Values change when they're not supposed to

One of my methods (actualy the workhorse method) from my genetic algorithm is doing something funky, and not in a good way. What I'm doing, is recording the best solution found and copying it directly into the new generation (elitism). But with a few System.out.println()'s I found that my best solution gets overwritten by a worse solution, even when my comparison returns false. Here's the code:

Code:

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//in SolutionSet class
public void newGeneration() {
                Solution[] newGen = new Solution[solutions.length];
                if(bestSoFar == null) {
                        Solution[] fittest2 = find2Fittest();
                        newGen[0] = fittest2[0];
                        newGen[1] = fittest2[1];
                        bestSoFar = fittest2[0];
                }
                else {
                        newGen[0] = bestSoFar; //first we add the best solution yet
                        newGen[1] = findFittest(); //next we add the best of this generation
                }
                for(int i = 2; i < newGen.length; i+=2) {
                        int parent1 = selectRoulette(); //selection of parents for crossover
                        int parent2;
                        int counter = 0;
                        do {
                                counter++;
                                parent2 = selectRoulette();
                                if(counter > 15) {
                                        parent2 = (parent1+1)%solutions.length;
                                        break;
                                }
                        } while(parent1 == parent2);
                        Solution[] offspring = solutions[parent1].crossover(solutions[parent2]);
                        newGen[i] = offspring[0];
                        newGen[i].mutate();
                        newGen[i].calcFitness();
                        newGen[i+1] = offspring[1];
                        newGen[i+1].mutate();
                        newGen[i+1].calcFitness();
                }
                numGens++;
                solutions = newGen; //the new generation is set as the current
                Solution candidate = findFittest(); //get the best solution
                System.out.println(bestSoFar.getFitness()+" "+candidate.getFitness()+" "+(candidate.compareTo(bestSoFar) == -1)); //debugging
                if(candidate.compareTo(bestSoFar) == -1)
                        bestSoFar = candidate;
        }

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Now the compareTo of a solution is simple:

Code:

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//in Solution class
public int compareTo(Solution s) { //smaller fitness score indicates better solution
                if(fitness < s.fitness) return -1;
                if(fitness > s.fitness) return 1;
                return 0;
        }

---

I'm really lost why this is happenning, even when the comparison in the if clause returns false, the value of bestSoFar changes, sample output:

Code:

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20.68888888888889 20.68888888888889 false //even though the comparison returns false
21.26086956521739 21.26086956521739 false //bestSoFar changes value

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I didn't read (and understand) all of your code (it's Saturday and I'm way too lazy today ;-) but I suspect that you're overwriting those array values in next iterations; when you find your best solution so far, make a copy of it and keep that instead of just the best solution so far.

kind regards,

Jos

Yeah, I was suspecting referencing was the culprit.

edit: never mind. Listen to Jos!

Now I'm really getting wierded out, I've written up this method in my Solution class:

Code:

---

public Solution copySolution() {
                Solution ret = new Solution(false);
                for(int i = 0; i < activeServers.length; i++) {
                        ret.activeServers[i] = activeServers[i];
                }
                ret.fitness = fitness;
                ret.numServers = numServers;
                return ret;
        }

---

The activeServers variable is a boolean array, fitness is a double, numServers is an int. All are primitives (I'm copying the array one element at a time), and I've done a bit of testing to make sure they don't change behind your back because of referencing. When I set the value of bestSoFar in the newGeneration() method from the first post, I've substitued it with:

Code:

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bestSoFar = candidate.copySolution();

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Now, in my copySolution() method, I create a new instance of Solution, copy the array element by element do avoid referencing the same memory location, and copy the values of primitives only. I've even added a:

Code:

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System.out.println(bestSoFar == candidate);

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statement, that verifies that the 2 variables don't reference the same object. But the same thing is still happening, even after the deep cloning.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by m00nchile

Now I'm really getting wierded out, I've written up this method in my Solution class:

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Time to activate the poor man's debugger: System.out.println( ... ); print it the best solution so far at every step. The moment its value(s) change you found the bugger ...

kind regards,

Jos

Are you setting bestSoFar anywhere else in your code?

Heh, I did find the bugger. When copying the best solution to the next generation, I simply did:

Code:

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negGen[0] = bestSoFar;

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Adding in the cloning, it now works. Thanks for your help JosAH!