Source : Free On-Line Dictionary of Computing

genetic algorithm
     
        (GA) An {evolutionary algorithm} which generates each
        individual from some encoded form known as a "chromosome" or
        "genome".  Chromosomes are combined or mutated to breed new
        individuals.  "Crossover", the kind of recombination of
        chromosomes found in sexual reproduction in nature, is often
        also used in GAs.  Here, an offspring's chromosome is created
        by joining segments choosen alternately from each of two
        parents' chromosomes which are of fixed length.
     
        GAs are useful for multidimensional optimisation problems in
        which the chromosome can encode the values for the different
        variables being optimised.
     
        {Illinois Genetic Algorithms Laboratory
        (http://GAL4.GE.UIUC.EDU/illigal.home.html)} (IlliGAL).
     
        (1995-02-03)