The operators are to be seen separately from the genetic algorithm. It should be possible to add any number of operators for the use in the genetic algorithm, without having to adjust it.
Each operator has a unique identifier or ID, through which related values (such as its performance to date) can be associated to it.
An running operator is called operation.
The operations are intended to implement coding algorithms. Operators should therefore not be as simple as possible, but may as well involve complex algorithms.
The operators should also be numerous, and the algorithm is responsible for the selection of good operators. Therefore, it is also desirable to create own operators with good parts of other operators. In this case, both the original operators and the new operator, which contains the extracted parts, should be in the genetic algorithm.
For special applications, a genetic algorithm may be used, which set of operators was restricted to the most useful operators for this application. Also, for a application useful operators can be combined to a (not genetic) algorithm, that uses them in determinated way.