What is Origin?
Origin is a Java-based software development kit (SDK) for creating applications that employ evolutionary computation (EC) algorithms that demand the capacity of large computational grids. Origin uses the power of the Frontier® Grid Platform, developed by Parabon Computation.
At its core, Origin is more of a software framework than a pure API. Developers construct applications by writing Java code to extend the evolutionary computation classes provided by Origin, and at runtime configure it with the classes and parameter values required by their application. Origin supports many common EC algorithms and can be easily extended to support others. Read more about the Origin Evolutionary SDK (PDF*)
Evolutionary Computation
For its robust effectiveness and wide applicability, evolutionary computation is a powerful paradigm for solving tough problems. But, the high computational requirements of EC algorithms has been a limiting factor — until now.
The Frontier Grid Platform is perfect for even the largest evolutionary jobs — either on large populations or in domains with long evaluation times. By running on Frontier, Origin enables you to apply evolutionary algorithms at a scale never before possible, making it feasible to solve problems otherwise thought intractable.
Benefits of Using Origin
- Ease of Use: Simply add your own domain simulator and objective function and let Origin do the rest.
- Automatic Scalability: Execute on thousands of nodes simultaneously without extra development.
- Platform Independence: Since it is 100% pure Java, Origin runs on practically any platform. Moreover, it supports native binaries, making it easy to incorporate legacy code into your EC application.
- Extensibility: If Origin doesn’t already support your EC algorithm of choice, easily add such with minimal integration.
Parabon Origin Applications
Learn more about three of Parabon's applications that use Origin:
- Parabon Crush™: Statistical Data Mining.
- Parabon inSēquio™ Sequence Design Studio: The quintessential application for designing DNA nanostructures.
- Parabon Watchman™: Optimize sensor placement to maximize coverage in any environment.
Information for Developers
- The Origin Developer's Guide explains how to develop applications using Origin, including how to migrate applications between ECJ and Origin.
- The Origin API Javadoc contains the Javadoc for Origin and the modified ECJ code Origin is based on.
- The ECJ documentation includes documentation and tutorials for the original ECJ implementation. More information about ECJ can be found at the ECJ website.
- ORIGIN is licensed under the ORIGIN End User License Agreement.
- The ECJ source is licensed under the Academic Free License 3.0, except for the MersenneTwister and MersenneTwisterFast Java classes, which use this license.
- ORIGIN includes software developed by the Apache Software Foundation distributed under the Apache License.