Evolutionary algorithms are an important emergent computing methodology. They have aroused intense interest in the past few years because of their versatility in solving di cult problems in the optimization and machine learning elds. Many applications to several di erent areas have been reported and the eld is still in expansion. We will rst brie y review the history and the methodological basis of evolutionary algorithms, followed by a simple example of their functioning. Parallel evolutionary

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... algorithms will then beintroduced, showing their good match to today's parallel and distributed computers. We will then look at a couple of applications and, nally, references and comments to bibliographic and other information on evolutionary methods will begiven to allow readers to broaden their knowledge in the eld.