GUIDE is a library (an API) that provides support for generating an evolutionary algorithm based on a high-level description of the problem to solve. It generates code in C++ (for the EO library) and in Java (for the ECJ library); however, it was designed with extensibility in mind: it is possible to add a plug-in for code generation in other languages in a rather straigthforward way.
GUIDE also comes with a corresponding User Interface, which makes life easier for users that don't want to "get their hands dirty". You can see a presentation through these slides presented at GECCO 2007 (Workshop on Open Source Software)
GUIDE is written in Java, and was programmed in two phases:
- the GUI for the choice of the Evolution Engine (selection, replacement and the like) was built by Pierre Collet and Marc Schoenauer during the DREAM Project (hence the name, Graphical User Interface for Dream Experiments).
- the GUI for the specification of the complete genome and automatic generation of variation operators was written by James Manley during his Master2 project under the supervision of Marc Schoenauer in Spring 2004.
It had then not been maintained until April 2007, when Luis Da Costa joined the EvoTest project, and started to completely rewrite the software. GUIDE is now registered as an open-source project under a Cecill licence at http://guide.gforge.inria.fr/ (March 2008). All the documentation is there and latest and upcoming developments are posted regularly at http://www.lri.fr/~ldacosta/guide/ There exists one general purpose distribution list where all important announcements are made; you can adhere by clicking here: http://lists.gforge.inria.fr/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/guide-interest