Path: senator-bedfellow.mit.edu!enterpoop.mit.edu!gatech!howland.reston.ans.net!noc.near.net!uunet!mcsun!Germany.EU.net!Informatik.Uni-Dortmund.DE!lusty!heitkoet From: joke@ls11.informatik.uni-dortmund.de (Joerg Heitkoetter) Newsgroups: comp.ai.genetic Subject: FAQ: genetic-faq/part2 (A Guide to Frequently Asked Questions) Followup-To: unido.test Date: 21 Jun 1993 16:10:02 GMT Organization: CS Department, University of Dortmund, Germany Lines: 937 Expires: 4 Aug 1993 16:09:55 GMT Message-ID: References: NNTP-Posting-Host: lusty.informatik.uni-dortmund.de Summary: This is part 2 of a triology entitled "The Hitch-Hiker's Guide to Evolutionary Computation". A monthly published list of Frequently Asked Questions (and their answers) about Evolutionary Algorithms, Life and Everything. It should be read by anyone who whishes to post to the comp.ai.genetic newsgroup, preferably *before* posting. Originator: joke@ls11.informatik.uni-dortmund.de (Joerg Heitkoetter) Archive-name: genetic-faq/part2 Last-Modified: 06/20/93 Version: 0.03j FAQ(2/3) ANSWERS FAQ(2/3) [eds note: This is a preliminary version, ie. a "proposal", of the forthcoming FAQ to comp.ai.genetic. If you want to contribute new items, make corrections, or want to fill in a "[..]" template, drop me a mail.] A10) Good introductory material on EAs? 1. Books for absolute beginners Dawkins, C. (1976) "The Selfish Gene", Oxford: Oxford University Press. Dawkins, C. (1983) "The Extended Phenotype: The Gene as a Unit of Selection", Oxford: Oxford University Press. Dawkins, C. (1986) "The Blind Watchmaker", New York: W.W. Norton. Regis, E. (1987) "Who owns Einstein's Office? Eccentricity and Genius at the Institute for Advanced Study", Reading, MA: Addison Wesley [eds note: chapters 5, 10 and 12] Levy, S. (1992) "Artificial Life: The Quest for a new Creation", New York, NY: Pantheon. [LEVY92] [eds note: read this and you will urge to work in this field] 2. Textbooks Goldberg, D.E. (1989) "Genetic Algorithms in Search, Optimization, and Machine Learning", available from Addison-Wesley Publishing, (617) 944-3700. Davis, L. (ed) (1987) "Genetic Algorithms and Simulated Annealing", available from Morgan Kaufmann Publishers (address and phone number below). Davis, L. (ed) (1991) "Handbook of Genetic Algorithms", available from Van Nostrand Reinhold, 115 5th Avenue, New York, NY, 10003, (800) 926-2665. ISBN 0-442-00173-8. Michalewicz, Z. (1992) "Genetic algorithms + Data Structures = Evolution Programs", Springer-Verlag, 175 5th Avenue, New York, NY, 10010, (212) 460-1500. Koza, J.R. (1992), "Genetic Programming: On the Programming of Computers by means of Natural Selection", Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. [KOZA92] 3. The Classics Charles Darwin (1859), "The Origin of Species", London: John Murray. (Peguin Classics, London, 1985; New American Library, Mentor Paperback) Version 0.03j Posted: 20 June 1993 1 FAQ(2/3) ANSWERS FAQ(2/3) Box, G.E.P. (1957) "Evolutionary operation: a method of increasing industrial productivity", Applied Statistics, 6, 81-101. Fraser, A.S. (1957) "Simulation of genetic systems by automatic digital computers", Australian Journal of Biological Sciences, 10, 484-491. Bremermann, H.J. (1962) "Optimization through evolution and recombination". In M.C. Yovits, et al, (eds) Solf-Organizing Systems. Washington, DC: Spartan Books. Holland, J.H. (1962) "Outline for a logical theory of adaptive systems", JACM, 3, 297-314. Walter, W.G. (1963) "The Living Brain", New York: W.W. Norton. Fogel, L.J., Owens, A.J. & Walsh, M.J. (1966) "Artificial Intelligence through Simulated Evolution", New York: Wiley. Rechenberg, I. (1973) "Evolutionsstrategie: Optimierung technischer Systeme nach Prinzipien der biologischen Evolution", Fromm-Holzboog, Stuttgart. (Evolution Strategy: Optimization of technical systems by means of biological evolution) Holland, J.H. (1975) "Adaptation in natural and artificial systems", Ann Arbor, MI: The University of Michigan Press. De Jong, K.A. (1975) "An analysis of the behaviour of a class of genetic adaptive systems", Doctoral thesis, Dept. of Computer and Communication Sciences, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Schwefel, H.-P. (1977) "Numerische Optimierung von Computer-Modellen mittels der Evolutionsstrategie", Basel: Birkhaeuser. Schwefel, H.-P. (1981) "Numerical Optimization of Computer Models", Chichester: Wiley. [eds note: English translation of the previous entry; a reworked edition is currently in preparation for "late" 1994] Nichael Lynn Cramer (1985) "A Representation for the Adaptive Generation of Simple Seqential Programs [ICGA85], 183-187. 4. Introductory journal articles Goldberg, D.E. (1986) "The Genetic Algorithm: Who, How, and What Next?". In Kumpati S. Narenda, ed., Adaptive and Learning Systems, Plenum, New York, NY. Dawkins, R. (1987) "The Evolution of Evolvability", [ALIFEI], 201-220. Version 0.03j Posted: 20 June 1993 2 FAQ(2/3) ANSWERS FAQ(2/3) Hillis, W.D. (1987) "The Connection Machine", Scientific American, 255(6). Holland, J.H. (1989) "Using Classifier Systems to Study Adaptive Nonlinear Networks". In: Lectures in the Science of Complexity, SFI Studies in the Science of Complexity, D. Stein, (ed), Addison Wesley. Brooks, R.A. (1991) "Intelligence without Reason", MIT AI Memo No. 1293. Appeared in "Computer's and Thought", IJCAI-91. Hillis, W.D. (1992) "Massively Parallel Computing" Daedalus, winter, 121(1), 1-29. [HILLIS92] Holland, J.H. (1992) "Genetic Algorithms", Scientific American, 260(9), 44-51. [HOLLAND92] Holland, J.H. (1992) "Complex Adaptive Systems" Daedalus, winter, 121(1), 17-30. Sims, K. (1991) "Artificial Evolution for Computer Graphics", Computer Graphics, 25(4), 319-328 Spears, W.M., DeJong, K.A., Baeck, T., Fogel, D. and de Garis, H. (1993) "An Overview of Evolutionary Computation", [ECML93], 442-459. Baeck, T. and Schwefel, H.-P. (1993) "An Overview of Evolutionary Algorithms for Parameter Optimization", Evolutionary Computation, 1(1), [..]. 5. Not-quite-so-introductory literature Davidor, Y. (1991) "Genetic Algorithms and Robotics", Singapore: World Scientific. ISBN 9-810202172. Forrest, S. (ed) (1990) "Emergent Computation. Self-Organizing, Collective, and Cooperative Phenomena in Natural and Artificial Computing Networks", Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. (Special issue of Physica D.) Hillis, W.D. (1990) "Co--Evolving Parasites Improve Simulated Evolution as an Optimization procedure", [ALIFEII], 313-324. Holland, J.H., Holyoak, K.J., Nisbett, R.E. & Thagard, P.R. (1986) "Induction: Processes of Inference, Learning, and Discovery", Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. Holland, J.H. (1992) "Adaptation in Natural and Artificial Systems: An Introductory Analysis with Applications to Biology, Control, and Artificial Intelligence, Cambridge, MA: MIT Press/Bradford Books, (2nd edn). Version 0.03j Posted: 20 June 1993 3 FAQ(2/3) ANSWERS FAQ(2/3) Serra, R. and Zanarini, G. (1990) "Complex Systems and Cognitive Processes", New York, NY: Springer-Verlag. 6. Videos Sims, K. (1990) "Panspermia", ACM Sigraph Review. [eds note: Where to order from?] Langton, C.G. (ed) (1992) "Artificial Life II Video Proceedings" The Advanced Book Program of the Santa Fe Institute: Studies in the Sciences of Complexity, Addison Wesley, ISBN 0-201-55492-5. Koza, J.R. and Rice, J.P. (1992) "Genetic Programming: The Movie", Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. (see GP-faq for an order form, cf Q15) A11) Any journals and magazines? [eds note: comments on speed of reviewing and publishing, whether they accept LaTeX/TeX format or ASCII by e-mail, etc. may be added] 1. Dedicated EC Journals: Evolutionary Computation Published by: MIT Press, MIT Press Journals, 55 Hayward Street, Cambridge, MA 02142-1399, USA. Tel: (617) 253-2889, Fax: (617) 258-6779, Net: . Along with the explosive growth of the computing industry has come the need to design systems capable of functioning in complex, changing environments. Considerable effort is underway to explore alternative approaches to designing more robust computer systems capable of learning from and adapting to the environment in which they operate. One braod class of such techniques takes its inspiration from natural systems with particular emphasis on evolutionary models of computation such as GAs, ESs. CFS, and EP. Until now, information on these techniques has been widely spread over numerous disciplines, conferences, and journals [eds note: and FAQs]. Beginning in the spring of 1993, look to The MIT Press's new journal EC, for a state-of-the-art picture of both the theoretical and practical developments in this rapidly growing, international field of research. [eds note: The editorial board reads like a who-is-who in EC, the first issue comes out these days!] BioSystems Journal of Biological and Information Processing Sciences, Elsevier Science Publishers, P.O. Box 1527, 1000 BM Amsterdam, The Netherlands. BioSystems encourages experimental, computational, and theoretical articles that link biology, evolutionary thinking, and the Version 0.03j Posted: 20 June 1993 4 FAQ(2/3) ANSWERS FAQ(2/3) information processing sciences. The link areas form a circle that encompasses the fundamental nature of biological information processing, computational modeling of complex biological systems, evolutionary models of computation, the application of biological principles to the design of novel computing systems, and the use of biomolecular materials to synthesize artificial systems that capture essential principles of natural biological information processing. Topics: MOLECULAR EVOLUTION: Self-organizing and self-replicating systems, Origin and evolution of the genetic mechanism; BIOLOGICAL INFORMATION PROCESSING: Molecular recognition, Cellular control, Neuromuscular computing, Biological adaptability, Molecular computing technologies; EVOLUTIONARY SYSTEMS: Stochastic evolutionary algorithms, Evolutionary optimization, Simulation of genetic and ecological systems, Applications (neural nets, machine learning, robotics)) 2. Related Journals: Complex Systems Published by: Complex Systems Publications, Inc., P.O. Box 6149, Champaign, IL 61821-8149, USA. Complex Systems devotes to the rapid publication of research on the science, mathematics, and engineering of systems with simple components but complex overall behavior. Try finger(1) on for additional info. Machine Learning Published by: Kluwer Academic Publishers, P.O. Box 358, Accord Station, Hingham, MA 02018-0358 USA. Machine Learning is an international forum for research on computational approaches to learning. The journal publishes articles reporting substantive research results on a wide range of learning methods applied to a variety of task domains. The ideal paper will make a theoretical contribution supported by a computer implementation. The journal has published many key papers in learning theory, reinforcement learning, and decision tree methods. The journal regularly publishes special issues devoted to GAs and CFS as well. Adaptive Behavior Published by: MIT Press Jornals, 55 Hayward Street, Cambridge, MA 02142-1399, USA. Tel: (617) 253-2889, Fax: (617) 258-6779. Broadly, behavior is adaptive if it deals successfully with changes circumstances. For example, when surprised, a hungry --but environmentally informed-- mouse may dart for cover rather than another piece of cheese. Similarly, a tripped-up robot [eds note: not necessarily built by Sirus Cybernetics Corp.] could get back on its Version 0.03j Posted: 20 June 1993 5 FAQ(2/3) ANSWERS FAQ(2/3) feet and accomplish a moonrock-finding mission if it had learned to cope with unanticipated lunar potholes. Adaptive Behavior thus takes an approach complementary to traditional AI. Now basic abilities that allow animals to survive, or robots to perform their mission in unpredictable environments, will be studied in preference to more elaborate and human-specific abilities. The journal also aims to investigate which new insights into intelligence and cognition can be achieved by explicitly taking into account the environment feedback --mediated by behavior-- that an animal or a robot receives, instead of studying components of intelligence in isolation. Topics: Individual and Collective Behavior. Neural Correlates of Behaviour. Perception and Motor Control. Motivation and Emotion. Action Selection and Behavioral Sequences. Internal World Models. Ontogeny, Learning, and Evolution. Characterization of Environments. A12) Important conferences on EC? Proceedings? 1. Dedicated EC Conferences: ICGA: Int'l Conference on Genetic Algorithms Proceedings of the 1st International Conference on Genetic Algorithms (1985) J.J. Grefenstette (ed) [ICGA85] and Proc. of the 2nd Int'l Conf. on Genetic Algorithms (1987) J.J. Grefenstette (ed) [ICGA87] available from Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc., 365 Broadway, Hillsdale, New Jersey, 07642, (800) 926-6579. Proc. of the 3rd Int'l Conf. on Genetic Algorithms (1989) J.D. Schaffer (ed) [ICGA89] and Proc. of the 4th Int'l Conf. on Genetic Algorithms (1991) R.K. Belew and L.B. Booker (eds) [ICGA91] and Proc. of the 5th Int'l Conf. on Genetic Algorithms (1993 - to appear) S. Forrest (ed) [ICGA93] available from Morgan Kaufmann Publishers, Inc., P.O. Box 50490, Palo Alto, CA, 94303-9953, (415) 578-9911. FOGA: Foundations of Genetic Algortithms Foundations of Genetic Algorithms (1991) G.J.E. Rawlins (ed) [FOGA91] and Foundations of Genetic Algorithms 2 (1993) L.D. Whitley [FOGA93] available from Morgan Kaufmann Publishers, Inc., P.O. Box 50490, Palo Alto, CA, 94303-9953, (415) 578-9911. PPSN: Parallel Problem Solving from Nature Parallel Problem Solving from Nature, (1990) H.-P. Schwefel and R. Maenner (eds) [PPSN90] published by Springer-Verlag, 175 5th Avenue, New York, NY, 10010, (212) 460-1500. Parallel Problem Solving from Nature 2, (1992) R. Maenner and B. Manderick (eds) [PPSN92] published by North-Holland, Elsevier Science Publishers, Sara Burgerhartstraat 25, P.O. Box 211, 1000 AE Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Parallel Problem Solving from Nature 3, (1994) Y. Davidor, [PPSN94] (to be published) Version 0.03j Posted: 20 June 1993 6 FAQ(2/3) ANSWERS FAQ(2/3) EP: Annual Conference on Evolutionary Programming Proceedings of the 1st Annual Conference on Evolutionary Programming, (1992) D.B. Fogel and W. Atmar (eds), [EP92], and Proc. of the 2nd Annual Conf. on Evolutionary Programming, (1993) D.B. Fogel and W. Atmar (eds), [EP93] published by the Evolutionary Programming Society, 9363 Towne Centre Dr., San Diego, CA 92121, Attn: Bill Porto, Treasurer. (EP93: The proceedings is 215 pages in length and includes 25 papers presented at this year's conference. Topics include evolutionary programming, genetic algorithms, evolution strategies, and various applications. For more information, contact David Fogel ) 2. Related Conferences: Alife: International Conference on Artificial Life Proceedings of the 1st Internationall Conference on Artificial Life, (1989) C.G. Langton (ed), Santa Fe Institute Studies in the Sciences of Complexity, Proc. Vol. VI, [ALIFEI] and Proc. of the 2nd Int'l Conf. on Artificial Life II, (1992) C.G. Langton, C. Taylor, J. Doyne Farmer and S. Rasmussen (eds), Santa Fe Institute Studies in the Sciences of Complexity, Proc. Vol. X, [ALIFEII] and Proc. of the 3rd Int'l Conf. on Artificial Life III, (to appear) C.G. Langton, C. Taylor, J. Doyne Farmer and S. Rasmussen (eds), [ALIFEIII] published by Addison Wesley, Redwood City, CA, USA. ECAL: European Conference on Artificial Life Proceedings of the 1st European Conference on Artificial Life, (1991) F.J. Varela and P. Bourgine (eds), [ECAL90] and Proc. of the 2nd European Conf. on Alife: Self-organization and life, from simple rules to global complexity, (1993) [..] (eds), [ECAL93] published by MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, USA. ECML: European Conference on Machine Learning Machine Learning: ECML-93, Proc. European Conf. on Machine Learning, (1993) P.B. Brazil (ed), [ECML93] published by Springer, New York, NY, USA. SAB: International Conference on Simulation of Adaptive Behavior From Animals to Animats. Proceedings of the 1st International Conference on Simulation of Adaptive Behavior, (1991) [SAB90] J.-A. Meyer and S.W. Wilson, ISBN 0-262-63138-5, and Proc. of the 2nd Int'l Conf. on Simulation of Adaptive Behavior, (1993) [SAB92], J.-A. Meyer, H. Roitblat and S.W. Wilson (eds) and Proc. of the 3rd Int'l Conf. on Simulation of Adaptive Behavior, (to appear) [SAB94], P. Husbands, J.-A. Meyer and S.W. Wilson (eds) published by MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, USA. 3. Pointers to upcoming Conferences: The Genetic Algorithm Digest Version 0.03j Posted: 20 June 1993 7 FAQ(2/3) ANSWERS FAQ(2/3) Aka "GA-Digest" always starts with a "Calendar of GA-related Events," ie. a list of upcoming conferences, covering the complete field of EAs. (cf Q15) The Artificial Life Digest Aka "Alife digest" always starts with a "Calendar of Alife-related Events," that lists conferences, workshops, etc. (cf Q15) The Evolutionary Programming Digest Aka "EP-digest" [..] (cf Q15) A13) Evolutionary Computation Associations? [preliminary] ISGA: International Society on Genetic Algorithms Membership is $[..] per year. Address: ISGA, [..] EPS: Evolutionary Programming Society Membership is $[..] per year. Address: Evolutionary Programming Society, 9363 Towne Centre Dr., San Diego, CA 92121, Attn: Bill Porto, Treasurer. ISEC: International Society on Evolutionary Membership is $[..] per year. Address: ISEC, [..] NOTE: ISEC is "in-the-making," and "under-heated-discussion", for an EC society would obviously "include" ISGA and EPS (thus making them "obsolete"), it is therefore likely to happen that ISEC will never see the light of day. [As reported from "behind-the-scenes", eds note] A14) Available technical reports? TCGA Reports The Clearing House for Genetic Algorithms (TCGA) distributes TCGA technical reports. Contact: Robert Elliott Smith, Department of Engineering of Mechanics, Room 210 Hardaway Hall, The University of Alabama, P.O. Box 870278, Tuscaloosa, AL 35487, USA. Tel: (205) 348-1618, Fax: (205) 348-6419, Net: . IlliGAL Reports The Illinois Genetic Algorithms Laboratory (IlliGAL) distributes IlliGAL technical reports, as well as reprints of other publications; they are available in hardcopy and can be ordered from the IlliGAL librarian. Contact: Eric Thompson, IlliGAL Librarian, Department of General Engineering, 117 Transportation Building, 104 South Mathews Avenue, Urbana, IL 61801-2996, USA. Tel: (217) 333-2346, Net: . Version 0.03j Posted: 20 June 1993 8 FAQ(2/3) ANSWERS FAQ(2/3) NOTE: When ordering, please include your surface mail address! IlliGAL will soon enter the Internet Age with our own anonymous-FTP server, making most of the existing IlliGAL reports, and all future ones, available in electronic form. Until that time, it can only offer hardcopy. SyS Reports The Systems Analysis Research Group (SyS) at the University of Dortmund, maintains an experimental anonymous ftp server: lumpi.informatik.uni-dortmund.de (129.217.36.140) Please give your complete e-mail address as password. On lumpi you can find SyS- Reports from 1992 on. (Get "/pub/ls-Ral.Z" and look for "papers" folders, the server is sorted by EA paradigms, ie. "/pub/GA/papers" contains papers related to GAs, etc.). A strongly recommended report is a list of current applications of both GAs and ESs; get "/pub/EA/papers/ea-app.ps.Z" (SyS-2/92). A15) Other sources of information? Genetic Algorithm Digest The GA research community exchanges news, CFP's, etc. through this digest, currently moderated by Connie Ramsey and formerly by Alan C. Schultz, Naval Research Laboratory, Washington, DC 20375-5000, USA. A recently published statistic (v7,i3) states that GA-digest is sent out to world-wide 1800 addresses in 28 countries. o Send submissions to o Send administrative requests to o Anonymous ftp archive: ftp.aic.nrl.navy.mil (Info in "/pub/galist/FTP") o Conference announcements "/pub/galist/information/conferences" Artificial Life Digest The Alife research community exchanges news, CFP's, etc. through this digest, edited by Liane Gabora and Rob Collins of the Artificial Life Research Group at UCLA. o Send submissions to o Send administrative requests to o Anonymous ftp archive: ftp.cognet.ucla.edu (128.97.50.19) in "~ftp/pub/alife" Genetic Programming Mailing List The GP community uses this list as a discussion forum, news exchange and FAQ distribution channel, edited by John Koza and James Rice at Version 0.03j Posted: 20 June 1993 9 FAQ(2/3) ANSWERS FAQ(2/3) Stanford. o Send submissions to o Send administrative requests to o Anonymous ftp archive: ftp.cc.utexas.edu in "pub/genetic- programming" o Contains a lengthy, but "mostly interesting" FAQ on GP related subjects Evolutionary Programming Digest The digest is intended to promote discussions on a wide range of technical issues in evolutionary optimization, as well as provide information on upcoming conferences, events, journals, special issues, and other items of interest to the EP community. Discussions on all areas of evolutionary computation are welcomed, including artificial life, evolution strategies, and genetic algorithms. The digest is meant to encourage interdisciplinary communications. Your suggestions and comments regarding the digest are always welcome. o Send administrative requests to To subscribe to the digest, send mail to and include the line "subscribe ep-list" in the body of the text. Further instructions will follow your subscription. The digest is moderated by N. Saravan of Florida Atlantic University. Tierra Mailing List Thomas Ray's Tierra is discussed elsewhere (cf Q4.1); here's how to obtain Tierra electronically and get in contact with other users. o Send submissions to o Send administrative requests to o Anonymous ftp archive: tierra.slhs.udel.edu (tierra, almond, beagle, etc.) The Santa Fe Institute The Santa Fe Institute Studies in the Sciences of Complexity (SFI) issues a recommended series: SFI Studies in the Science of Complexity, published by Addison Wesley and maintains a well-sorted ftp server with EC related material. o Send administrative requests to Version 0.03j Posted: 20 June 1993 10 FAQ(2/3) ANSWERS FAQ(2/3) o Anonymous ftp archive: ftp.santafe.edu in "/pub" The Australien National University (ANU) The Bioinformatics facility at Australian National University has set up an anonymous ftp server, that conatins EC related material, maintained by David G. Green. o Send administrative requests to David G. Green o Anonymous ftp archive: life.anu.edu.au in "/pub/complex_systems/alife" Usenet newsgroups Besides the obvious comp.ai.genetic, there exist some other newsgroups that sometimes carry EC related topics: o comp.ai (FAQ in news.answers, comp.answers) o comp.ai.fuzzy (FAQ in news.answers, comp.answers) o comp.ai.neural-nets (FAQ in news.answers, comp.answers) o comp.robotics (FAQ in news.answers, comp.answers) o comp.theory.cell-automata (no FAQ) o comp.theory.dynamic-sys (no FAQ) o comp.theory.self-org-sys (no FAQ) o comp.doc.techreports (no FAQ) o comp.infosystems.gopher (FAQ in news.answers, comp.answers) o comp.infosystems.wais (FAQ in news.answers, comp.answers) o comp.infosystems.www (no FAQ) Internet services Access Tools Most of the recently published books about the Internet describe these tools in detail. Kehoe (1992), the first book to appear, was offered first in a free electronic version over the Internet. The first edition, January 1992, is still available online from many anonymous ftp archives around the world, in a directory named something like pub/zen/; read files stored there for help producing a printed document. Krol (1992) has received excellent reviews. All the tools mentioned in this section share the quirk that they are actually two things: a "server" or "daemon" program that runs all the Version 0.03j Posted: 20 June 1993 11 FAQ(2/3) ANSWERS FAQ(2/3) time on a host computer and accepts requests to connect over the Internet, and a "client" program that people use to connect to or access these servers. A few host computers in this FAQ allow the public to telnet to the host, and then use the host computer to access servers via either gopher or WAIS. These arrangements are offered as a courtesy to those people who do not have the necessary client software on their own computers, and want to try these tools before going to the trouble of installing the client software themselves. Telnet Telnet is a protocol whereby someone who is logged onto an account on a computer with full Internet access can access another computer over the Internet and login there, assuming he or she has login privileges on that computer as well. Anonymous telnet sessions are generally not permitted, but occasionally usernames are created with restricted privileges, for use by the Internet public. Anonymous Ftp Ftp is a protocol for file transfers between computers with full Internet access. Ftp allows people to transfer files to and from a remote computer on the Internet, assuming they have privileges on both the local and remote computers. "Anonymous ftp" indicates that people may login to the remote system with the userid "anonymous" and an arbitrary password. By convention, anonymous ftp users provide their e-mail addresses when asked for a password. This is useful to those archive managers who must justify to their bosses the time spent providing this free (but not cheap) service. Some computers set restrictions on when transfers may be made from their archives, and most prefer that large transfers be made only during off- hours. Bitnet does not support telnet or ftp sessions, but many Bitnet nodes are also Internet nodes, and so do support telnet and ftp. For those people who only have access to computers on Bitnet, Princeton University offers a file transfer service by e-mail. will send a help file in response to the message "help". There is also a BITFTP server in Germany: from within BITNET/EARN/NetNorth or from the Internet. This server should be used only for ftp requests involving transfers within Europe. Those people who have neither full Internet access nor an account on a Bitnet node can retrieve files from anonymous ftp archives by e-mail courtesy of , which will send instructions in response to the words "help" and "quit" on separate lines of an e-mail message. Here is an example of how to send for a document on the archive at rtfm.mit.edu. This example will return a list of all the FAQs stored in the directory pub/usenet/news.answers/, and a copy of this guide. Send the message Version 0.03j Posted: 20 June 1993 12 FAQ(2/3) ANSWERS FAQ(2/3) send usenet/news.answers/index send usenet/news.answers/genetic-faq/part1 send usenet/news.answers/genetic-faq/part2 send usenet/news.answers/genetic-faq/part3 by e-mail to . Gopher Gopher is a user-interface program that makes ftp and other types of connections for computer users when they select an item in a menu. It is an easy way to get stuff off the Internet without having to know where the stuff lives. Gopher is free, and there are nice versions for most types of computers, especially Unix workstations and Macs. It was invented at the University of Minnesota; current versions can be retrieved via anonymous ftp from boombox.micro.umn.edu. The name is a clever pun on the "go-for" person who runs errands for people, and on the burrowing rodent, which pops down a "hole" in the Internet and comes back up who-knows-where. comp.infosystems.gopher is the newsgroup for gopher-related issues in general. The FAQ for this group is stored on rtfm.mit.edu in the file "pub/usenet/news.answers/gopher-faq". There is an entire chapter on gopher in Krol (1992). Archie Archie is a program that helps people locate software in any of the thousands of anonymous ftp archives around the world. A copy of the software can be retrieved via anonymous ftp from any archie server, including ftp.cs.widener.edu, in the /archie/clients/ directory. There are versions of archie for all sorts of Unix systems, as well as VMS and PCs running a variety of network software. Good places to look for help installing archie on any computer are from or bionet.users.addresses. Documentation is available via anonymous ftp on ftp.ans.net in the /pub/archie/doc/ directory, or by e-mail from . Archie can be used via e-mail, by sending e-mail with a list of commands to . For details, send the command "help". Due to the high demand for this service, the archie administrators on ans.net prefer that requests be made via e-mail. Veronica Veronica is the Very Easy Rodent-Oriented Net-wide Index to Computerized Archives. The reason Veronica's name is so long is so that it can play on the concepts of both gopher and archie. (Remember the comic book couple Archie and Veronica? Veronica does for gopher what archie does for anonymous ftp.) Veronica searches through hundreds of gopher holes looking for anything that matches a keyword supplied by the user, and assembles a list of gopher servers that contain items of interest. Note: Veronica checks *titles* of gopher items only, not their contents. Veronica was only invented in late 1992, but already seems very promising. Version 0.03j Posted: 20 June 1993 13 FAQ(2/3) ANSWERS FAQ(2/3) WAIS WAIS stands for Wide Area Information Servers. The idea is to make anonymous ftp archives more accessible by indexing their contents and making those indexes searchable with software distributed to anyone on the Internet. The user interface is simple so far, but the concept is so powerful that every person with an anonymous ftp archive has spent part of this past year building WAIS indices of all available material (software, data, documents and other information). In the course of all this effort a great deal of information has suddenly become publicly available all in the past year. Good WAIS client programs for the Mac (WAIStation) and PC (PCWAIS) are available on the anonymous ftp archive at think.com. If your computer has full Internet access, you can try out WAIS on a Unix system, courtesy of Thinking Machines Corp., by telnetting to quake.think.com. Use the username "wais" and give your e-mail address as the password. See the newsgroup comp.infosystems.wais for more details. The FAQ for this group is stored on rtfm.mit.edu in the file "pub/usenet/news.answers/wais-faq/getting-started". The World-Wide Web (WWW) The World-Wide Web is yet another tool for gathering useful information from the Internet.Use of uninitialized value in concatenation (.) or string at E:\listplex\SYSTEM\SCRIPTS\filearea.cgi line 455, line 960. It was invented at the European Particle Physics Laboratory (CERN), Switzerland. The Web looks like a document that users can open and read, but clicking on certain words causes other documents to be retrieved and opened for inspection. The most powerful aspect of the Web at present is the ease with which seamless, attractive online documentation can be created, that is easy to find and browse, no matter where on the Internet the actual documents are. You can try the Web, courtesy of CERN: telnet to info.cern.ch (no username needed). WWW features a remarkably beautiful X interface called xmosaic(1). References Kehoe, B.P. (1992) "Zen and the Art of the Internet: A Beginner's Guide to the Internet", 2nd Edition (July). Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ. 112 pages. The 1st Edition, (February) is available in Postscript format via anonymous ftp from ftp.cs.widener.edu and many other Internet archives. Krol, E. (1992) "The Whole Internet: Catalog & User's Guide". O'Reilly & Associates, Inc., Sebastopol, CA. 376 pages. LaQuey, T. and J.C. Ryer (1992) "The Internet Companion: A Beginner's Guide to Global Networking". Addison-Wesley Publishing Co., Reading, MA. 208 pages. Smith, Una R. (1993) "A Biologist's Guide to the Internet." Usenet sci.answers. Available via anonymous ftp from rtfm.mit.edu in pub/usenet/news.answers/biology/guide. ~20 pages. Version 0.03j Posted: 20 June 1993 14 -- -joke -- Joerg Heitkoetter | "Don't ask what the FAQ Systems Analysis Group | can do for you, University of Dortmund, Germany | but what you can do (joke@ls11.informatik.uni-dortmund.de). | for the FAQ."