Tournament selection in genetic algorithm

[stoffprof]

I've found the genetic algorithm documentation to be somewhat vague with regard to the details of its implementation. For example, in describing the GASETSEL call, nothing is said about how members are chosen from the population to participate in the tournament. Is it a roulette wheel implementation?

[stoffprof]

Another example: what does the random seed in GASETUP do if a user-written initialization module is specified? Does it do anything?

[Hutch_sas]

Members are chosen completely at random from the population to participate in the tournament. The tournament itself generates the selection pressure to choose the fittest  member. If you are concerned that a very fit member of the population might not be chosen to participate in the tournament, you can use the elite parameter to guarantee the best solution are carried over to the next generation. There is a "Genetic Algorithms" section of the Language Reference Manual that explains the operation of the genetic algorithm routines in  more detail.