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  <title>Contributing – TinyverseGP</title>
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        content="Learn how to contribute to TinyverseGP: new representations, problem domains, bug fixes, documentation, and more." />
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<!-- ===== NAVBAR ===== -->
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    <a class="navbar-brand" href="index.html">🧬&nbsp;<span>Tinyverse</span>GP</a>
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      <li><a href="index.html#about">About</a></li>
      <li><a href="index.html#representations">Representations</a></li>
      <li><a href="index.html#install">Get Started</a></li>
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      <li><a href="contributing.html" class="active">Contribute</a></li>
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<!-- ===== HERO ===== -->
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    <h1 style="font-size:clamp(1.75rem,4vw,2.8rem)">🤝 Contributing to TinyverseGP</h1>
    <p class="tagline" style="max-width:680px">
      TinyverseGP is a community project and we warmly welcome contributions of every kind —
      from new GP representations and problem domains to bug fixes, experiments, and
      documentation.
    </p>
    <div class="btn-group">
      <a class="btn btn-white"
         href="https://github.com/GPBench/TinyverseGP/issues/new"
         target="_blank" rel="noopener">🐛 Open an Issue</a>
      <a class="btn btn-outline"
         href="https://github.com/GPBench/TinyverseGP/pulls"
         target="_blank" rel="noopener">🔀 Submit a Pull Request</a>
      <a class="btn btn-outline"
         href="https://discord.gg/MSv32wHTC6"
         target="_blank" rel="noopener">💬 Join Discord</a>
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<!-- ===== MAIN CONTENT ===== -->
<section class="section">
  <div class="container">

    <!-- Table of Contents -->
    <nav class="toc">
      <h4>📋 Table of Contents</h4>
      <ol>
        <li><a href="#ways-to-contribute">Ways to Contribute</a></li>
        <li><a href="#getting-started">Getting Started</a></li>
        <li><a href="#new-representation">Adding a New GP Representation</a></li>
        <li><a href="#new-domain">Adding a New Problem Domain</a></li>
        <li><a href="#workflow">Development Workflow</a></li>
        <li><a href="#code-style">Code Style</a></li>
        <li><a href="#testing">Testing</a></li>
        <li><a href="#contact">Contact &amp; Community</a></li>
      </ol>
    </nav>

    <!-- Ways to contribute -->
    <div class="guide-section" id="ways-to-contribute">
      <h2 class="section-title">Ways to Contribute</h2>
      <div class="section-line"></div>
      <p>
        TinyverseGP is still in its early stages — every contribution matters.
        Below are the most impactful areas to get involved in.
      </p>

      <div class="contribution-type-grid">
        <div class="contribution-type">
          <div class="ct-icon">🌱</div>
          <h4>New GP Representations</h4>
          <p>Push GP, Stack GP, Gene Expression Programming, Semantic GP, …</p>
        </div>
        <div class="contribution-type">
          <div class="ct-icon">🏋️</div>
          <h4>New Problem Domains</h4>
          <p>Time-series forecasting, combinatorial optimisation, multi-objective problems, …</p>
        </div>
        <div class="contribution-type">
          <div class="ct-icon">⚙️</div>
          <h4>Operators</h4>
          <p>Crossover, mutation, and selection operators that plug into the existing framework.</p>
        </div>
        <div class="contribution-type">
          <div class="ct-icon">📊</div>
          <h4>Benchmarks &amp; Experiments</h4>
          <p>Replicate published results, add datasets, or run systematic comparisons.</p>
        </div>
        <div class="contribution-type">
          <div class="ct-icon">🧪</div>
          <h4>Tests</h4>
          <p>Unit tests, integration tests, and regression tests to improve reliability.</p>
        </div>
        <div class="contribution-type">
          <div class="ct-icon">📝</div>
          <h4>Documentation</h4>
          <p>Docstrings, tutorials, Jupyter notebooks, or improvements to this website.</p>
        </div>
        <div class="contribution-type">
          <div class="ct-icon">🐛</div>
          <h4>Bug Reports &amp; Fixes</h4>
          <p>Open a GitHub issue with a minimal reproducer, or directly submit a fix.</p>
        </div>
        <div class="contribution-type">
          <div class="ct-icon">💡</div>
          <h4>Feature Requests &amp; Ideas</h4>
          <p>Start a discussion on GitHub or Discord — we love hearing about new use cases.</p>
        </div>
      </div>
    </div>

    <!-- Getting started -->
    <div class="guide-section" id="getting-started">
      <h2 class="section-title">Getting Started</h2>
      <div class="section-line"></div>

      <h3>1. Fork &amp; clone the repository</h3>
      <pre><code># Fork on GitHub first, then:
git clone https://github.com/&lt;your-username&gt;/TinyverseGP.git
cd TinyverseGP
git remote add upstream https://github.com/GPBench/TinyverseGP.git</code></pre>

      <h3>2. Set up your environment</h3>
      <pre><code>python3.10 -m venv env
source env/bin/activate   # Windows: env\Scripts\activate
pip install -e .[dev]</code></pre>

      <div class="callout warning">
        ⚠️ <strong>Python 3.10 required.</strong>
        Versions above 3.10 are currently not supported due to a dependency constraint.
        Use <a href="https://github.com/pyenv/pyenv" target="_blank" rel="noopener">pyenv</a>
        if you need to manage multiple Python versions.
      </div>

      <h3>3. Create a feature branch</h3>
      <pre><code>git checkout -b feature/my-awesome-contribution</code></pre>

      <h3>4. Make your changes, test, and push</h3>
      <pre><code># ... make your changes ...

# Run the existing examples to verify nothing is broken
python3 -m examples.symbolic_regression.test_cgp_sr
python3 -m examples.symbolic_regression.test_tgp_sr

# Push and open a Pull Request on GitHub
git push origin feature/my-awesome-contribution</code></pre>
    </div>

    <!-- New representation -->
    <div class="guide-section" id="new-representation">
      <h2 class="section-title">Adding a New GP Representation</h2>
      <div class="section-line"></div>

      <p>
        All GP representations live in <code>src/gp/</code> and inherit from
        <code>GPModel</code> defined in <code>src/gp/tinyverse.py</code>.
        Follow these steps to add a new one.
      </p>

      <h3>Step 1 – Create the module file</h3>
      <p>
        Name your file <code>tiny_&lt;X&gt;gp.py</code> where <code>&lt;X&gt;</code> is the
        first letter(s) of the representation (e.g., <code>tiny_pgp.py</code> for Push GP).
        Place it in <code>src/gp/</code>.
      </p>

      <h3>Step 2 – Define Config and Hyperparameters</h3>
      <p>
        Create dataclasses that inherit from <code>GPConfig</code> and
        <code>GPHyperparameters</code> respectively. Add any representation-specific fields.
      </p>
      <pre><code>from dataclasses import dataclass
from src.gp.tinyverse import GPConfig, GPHyperparameters

@dataclass(kw_only=True)
class MyGPConfig(GPConfig):
    # add representation-specific config fields here
    my_param: int = 10

@dataclass(kw_only=True)
class MyGPHyperparameters(GPHyperparameters):
    # add representation-specific hyperparameters here
    my_hp: float = 0.1</code></pre>

      <h3>Step 3 – Implement the <code>GPModel</code> subclass</h3>
      <p>
        Create a class named <code>Tiny&lt;X&gt;GP</code> (e.g., <code>TinyPGP</code>) that
        inherits from <code>GPModel</code> and implements all abstract methods:
      </p>

      <table class="examples-table" style="margin-bottom:1rem">
        <thead>
          <tr><th>Method</th><th>Description</th></tr>
        </thead>
        <tbody>
          <tr>
            <td><code>init_population()</code></td>
            <td>Initialise the population of individuals.</td>
          </tr>
          <tr>
            <td><code>evaluate_individual(genome, problem)</code></td>
            <td>Compute and return the fitness of a single genome.</td>
          </tr>
          <tr>
            <td><code>pipeline(problem)</code></td>
            <td>Execute one evolutionary generation (selection → breeding → evaluation).</td>
          </tr>
          <tr>
            <td><code>selection()</code></td>
            <td>Select an individual from the population (e.g., tournament).</td>
          </tr>
          <tr>
            <td><code>predict(genome, observation)</code></td>
            <td>Execute a genome on a single input observation and return the output.</td>
          </tr>
          <tr>
            <td><code>expression(genome)</code></td>
            <td>Return a human-readable representation of the evolved program.</td>
          </tr>
          <tr>
            <td><code>is_valid(genome)</code></td>
            <td>Return <code>True</code> if the genome is a valid program.</td>
          </tr>
          <tr>
            <td><code>eval_complexity(genome)</code></td>
            <td>Return a scalar measure of the genome's complexity.</td>
          </tr>
        </tbody>
      </table>

      <div class="callout info">
        💡 Look at <code>src/gp/tiny_cgp.py</code> or <code>src/gp/tiny_tgp.py</code> for
        concrete reference implementations.
      </div>

      <h3>Step 4 – Add an example</h3>
      <p>
        Add at least one runnable example in <code>examples/symbolic_regression/</code> (or
        another domain) that demonstrates your representation. Update the table in
        <code>README.md</code>.
      </p>

      <h3>Step 5 – Update <code>Collaborators.md</code></h3>
      <p>
        Add your name and affiliation to <code>Collaborators.md</code> with a short
        description of your contribution. This is required before your PR can be merged.
      </p>
    </div>

    <!-- New domain -->
    <div class="guide-section" id="new-domain">
      <h2 class="section-title">Adding a New Problem Domain</h2>
      <div class="section-line"></div>

      <p>
        Problem domains live in <code>src/benchmark/</code>. The interface is defined in
        <code>src/gp/problem.py</code> through the abstract <code>Problem</code> class.
      </p>

      <h3>Step 1 – Implement a <code>Problem</code> subclass</h3>
      <p>
        Open <code>src/gp/problem.py</code> and add a new class that inherits from
        <code>Problem</code>. The class must implement three methods:
      </p>
      <pre><code>from src.gp.problem import Problem

class MyProblem(Problem):
    def is_ideal(self, fitness) -> bool:
        """Return True when the optimal fitness has been reached."""
        return fitness == 0.0

    def is_better(self, fitness1, fitness2) -> bool:
        """Return True if fitness1 is strictly better than fitness2."""
        return fitness1 &lt; fitness2

    def evaluate(self, genome, gp_model) -> float:
        """Compute the fitness of genome using gp_model.predict(…)."""
        total_error = 0.0
        for x, y_true in self.data:
            y_pred = gp_model.predict(genome, x)
            total_error += abs(y_pred - y_true)
        return total_error</code></pre>

      <h3>Step 2 – Create a benchmark module</h3>
      <p>
        Add your benchmark instances in <code>src/benchmark/&lt;domain&gt;/</code>.
        If you are wrapping an existing benchmark suite, create a thin interface file
        (see <code>srbench.py</code> or <code>lsbench.py</code> for examples).
      </p>

      <h3>Step 3 – Add examples and update the README</h3>
      <p>
        Provide at least one example per representation in
        <code>examples/&lt;domain&gt;/</code> and list them in <code>README.md</code>.
      </p>
    </div>

    <!-- Workflow -->
    <div class="guide-section" id="workflow">
      <h2 class="section-title">Development Workflow</h2>
      <div class="section-line"></div>

      <ol>
        <li>
          <strong>Keep your fork in sync.</strong>
          <pre><code>git fetch upstream
git rebase upstream/main</code></pre>
        </li>
        <li>
          <strong>Write small, focused commits</strong> with descriptive messages
          (<code>Add TinyPGP representation</code>,
           <code>Fix mutation operator bug in CGP</code>, …).
        </li>
        <li>
          <strong>Open a Pull Request</strong> against the <code>main</code> branch of
          <code>GPBench/TinyverseGP</code>. Fill in the PR template, describing what the
          change does and how you tested it.
        </li>
        <li>
          <strong>Respond to review feedback</strong> promptly. A maintainer will review
          your PR and may request changes before merging.
        </li>
        <li>
          <strong>Update <code>Collaborators.md</code></strong> in the same PR —
          this is required before your contribution can be merged.
        </li>
      </ol>

      <div class="callout">
        🏠 The repository is hosted under the
        <a href="https://github.com/GPBench" target="_blank" rel="noopener">GPBench GitHub Organisation</a>,
        which is not tied to any single institution. If you want to become a maintainer
        with write access, please reach out via Discord or by opening a GitHub discussion.
      </div>
    </div>

    <!-- Code style -->
    <div class="guide-section" id="code-style">
      <h2 class="section-title">Code Style</h2>
      <div class="section-line"></div>

      <ul>
        <li>
          Follow <strong>PEP 8</strong>. The existing codebase uses 4-space indentation
          and type hints wherever practical.
        </li>
        <li>
          Keep each GP representation <strong>self-contained in a single file</strong>.
          Avoid adding unnecessary dependencies.
        </li>
        <li>
          Add <strong>docstrings</strong> to every public class and method, matching the
          style already used in <code>tinyverse.py</code>.
        </li>
        <li>
          Every file should start with the standard licence header:
          <pre><code># This file is part of TinyverseGP | https://github.com/GPBench/TinyverseGP
# License: GPL-3.0-or-later</code></pre>
        </li>
        <li>
          Prefer <strong>clarity over cleverness</strong>. The main purpose of the codebase
          is education — readable code is more valuable than micro-optimised code.
        </li>
      </ul>
    </div>

    <!-- Testing -->
    <div class="guide-section" id="testing">
      <h2 class="section-title">Testing</h2>
      <div class="section-line"></div>

      <p>
        The project uses <strong>pytest</strong>. Tests live in the
        <code>tests/</code> directory. Before submitting a PR, run the full test suite:
      </p>
      <pre><code>pytest tests/</code></pre>

      <p>
        If you are adding a new representation or feature, please add corresponding tests
        in <code>tests/</code>. At minimum:
      </p>
      <ul>
        <li>A smoke test that initialises the model and runs one generation.</li>
        <li>A test that verifies the <code>predict()</code> and <code>expression()</code>
            methods return correct types.</li>
        <li>A regression test if you are fixing a bug.</li>
      </ul>

      <div class="callout warning">
        ⚠️ Do <em>not</em> remove or weaken existing tests. If a test needs to change
        because of your refactoring, explain why in the PR description.
      </div>
    </div>

    <!-- Contact -->
    <div class="guide-section" id="contact">
      <h2 class="section-title">Contact &amp; Community</h2>
      <div class="section-line"></div>

      <p>
        The best places to ask questions, share ideas, or get feedback before starting a
        large contribution:
      </p>

      <ul>
        <li>
          💬 <strong>Discord</strong> —
          <a href="https://discord.gg/MSv32wHTC6" target="_blank" rel="noopener">discord.gg/MSv32wHTC6</a>
          (most active channel for real-time discussion)
        </li>
        <li>
          🐛 <strong>GitHub Issues</strong> —
          <a href="https://github.com/GPBench/TinyverseGP/issues" target="_blank" rel="noopener">
            github.com/GPBench/TinyverseGP/issues
          </a>
          (bug reports, feature requests)
        </li>
        <li>
          💬 <strong>GitHub Discussions</strong> —
          <a href="https://github.com/GPBench/TinyverseGP/discussions" target="_blank" rel="noopener">
            github.com/GPBench/TinyverseGP/discussions
          </a>
          (ideas, questions, research collaboration)
        </li>
      </ul>

      <div class="callout">
        🙏 <strong>Thank you</strong> for taking the time to contribute to TinyverseGP!
        Every contribution — no matter how small — helps build a better tool for the
        Genetic Programming community.
      </div>
    </div>

  </div>
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