No abstract

No abstract

No abstract

Abstract.We asked "What is a Learning Classifier System" to some of the best-known researchers in the field. These are their answers. John H. HollandClassifier systems are intended as a framework that uses genetic algorithms to study learning in condition/action, rule-based systems. They simplify the "broadcast language" introduced in [26] by (i) eliminating the ability of rules to generate other rules, and (ii) by simplifying the specification of conditions and actions. They were introduced in [27] and were later revised to the current "standard" form in [28]. [31] gives a comprehensive description of this "standard" form, with examples. There are, however, many significant variants (e.g., Booker [9, this volume] In defining classifier systems I adopted the common view that the state of the environment is conveyed to the system via a set of detectors (e.g., rods and cones in a retina). The outputs of the detectors are treated as standardized packets of information, messages. Messages are used for internal processing as well, and some messages, by directing the system's effectors (e.g., its muscles), determine the system's actions upon its environment. There is a further environmental interaction that is critical to the learning process: the environment must, in certain situations, provide the system with some measure of its performance. Here, as earlier [26], I will use the term payoff as the general term for this measure.

No abstract