Answers.Body: <p>As you can find <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evolutionary_computation" rel="nofollow noreferrer">on Wikipedia</a>:</p>
  <blockquote>
  <p>Evolutionary algorithms form a subset of evolutionary computation in that they generally only involve techniques implementing mechanisms inspired by <strong>biological evolution</strong> such as reproduction, mutation, recombination, natural selection, and survival of the fittest.</p>
  </blockquote>
  <p>This means that other types of evolutions, which are not necessarily a biological evolution, are found in evolutionary computation but not in evolutionary algorithms. For example, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Learning_classifier_system" rel="nofollow noreferrer">learning classifier systems</a> are in EC as they are evolutionary, but not completely in EA as they are not biological.</p>
  
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Answers.Text: Thanks for your input, good point that it is indeed mentioned that EA use biological evolution. However; I am not quite convinced by your example. In the paper that introduced Grammatical Evolution, the authors classify it as an EA: "We present grammatical evolution, an evolutionary algorithm that can evolve complete programs". Source: https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/469e/bfd13737504d1ae223b01140d2ddbc318e14.pdf . Are there in general other forms of evolution that are not biological? I'm sorry if I'm being overly pedantic here, I'm just trying to get my head wrapped around this.
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Answers.Text: @DaniëlWillemsen no problem. You're right. LCS can be a better example. It's a rule-based algorithm and has some differences with EAs.
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Body: <p>A book on evolutionary computation by <a href="https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/evolutionary-computation" rel="nofollow noreferrer">De Jong</a> mentions both the term evolutionary algorithms (EA) as well as evolutionary computation (EC). However, it remains unclear to me what the difference between the two is. According to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1109%2FICGTSPICC.2016.7955308" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Vikhar</a>, EA forms a subset of EC. However, it remains unclear to me what sort of topics/algorithms would be considered EC but not EA. Is there a clear difference between the two? If so, what is this difference?</p>
  
Tags: <comparison><evolutionary-algorithms><evolutionary-computation>
Title: What is the difference between evolutionary computation and evolutionary algorithms?
UserDisplayName: dan888
ThreadText: # What is the difference between evolutionary computation and evolutionary algorithms?
  
  (Asked by: username_0 on 2020-03-18)
  
  A book on evolutionary computation by [De Jong](https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/evolutionary-computation) mentions both the term evolutionary algorithms (EA) as well as evolutionary computation (EC). However, it remains unclear to me what the difference between the two is. According to [Vikhar](https://doi.org/10.1109%2FICGTSPICC.2016.7955308), EA forms a subset of EC. However, it remains unclear to me what sort of topics/algorithms would be considered EC but not EA. Is there a clear difference between the two? If so, what is this difference?
  
  **Tags:** comparison, evolutionary-algorithms, evolutionary-computation
  
  
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  ## 1 answers
  
  ### Answer by username_1 on 2020-03-18. Score: 2
  
  As you can find [on Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evolutionary_computation):
  
  > Evolutionary algorithms form a subset of evolutionary computation in that they generally only involve techniques implementing mechanisms inspired by **biological evolution** such as reproduction, mutation, recombination, natural selection, and survival of the fittest.
  
  This means that other types of evolutions, which are not necessarily a biological evolution, are found in evolutionary computation but not in evolutionary algorithms. For example, [learning classifier systems](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Learning_classifier_system) are in EC as they are evolutionary, but not completely in EA as they are not biological.
  
  > **Comments:**
  > **username_0**: Thanks for your input, good point that it is indeed mentioned that EA use biological evolution. However; I am not quite convinced by your example. In the paper that introduced Grammatical Evolution, the authors classify it as an EA: "We present grammatical evolution, an evolutionary algorithm that can evolve complete programs". Source: https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/469e/bfd13737504d1ae223b01140d2ddbc318e14.pdf . Are there in general other forms of evolution that are not biological? I'm sorry if I'm being overly pedantic here, I'm just trying to get my head wrapped around this.  
  > **username_1**: @DaniëlWillemsen no problem. You're right. LCS can be a better example. It's a rule-based algorithm and has some differences with EAs.  
  
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