Task: Evolutionary algorithm
C#: using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;

static class Program {
    static Random Rng = new Random((int)DateTime.Now.Ticks);

    static char NextCharacter(this Random self) {
        const string AllowedChars = " ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ";
        return AllowedChars[self.Next() % AllowedChars.Length];
    }

    static string NextString(this Random self, int length) {
        return String.Join("", Enumerable.Repeat(' ', length)
            .Select(c => Rng.NextCharacter()));
    }

    static int Fitness(string target, string current) {
        return target.Zip(current, (a, b) => a == b ? 1 : 0).Sum();
    }

    static string Mutate(string current, double rate) {
        return String.Join("", from c in current
               select Rng.NextDouble() <= rate ? Rng.NextCharacter() : c);
    }

    static void Main(string[] args) {
        const string target = "METHINKS IT IS LIKE A WEASEL";
        const int C = 100;
        const double P = 0.05;

        
        string parent = Rng.NextString(target.Length);

        Console.WriteLine("START:       {0,20} fitness: {1}", 
            parent, Fitness(target, parent));
        int i = 0;

        while (parent != target) {
            
            var candidates = Enumerable.Range(0, C + 1)
                .Select(n => n > 0 ? Mutate(parent, P) : parent);

            
            parent = candidates.OrderByDescending(c => Fitness(target, c)).First();

            ++i;
            Console.WriteLine("     #{0,6} {1,20} fitness: {2}", 
                i, parent, Fitness(target, parent));
        }

        Console.WriteLine("END: #{0,6} {1,20}", i, parent);
    }
}

Java: import java.util.Random;

public class EvoAlgo {
  static final String target = "METHINKS IT IS LIKE A WEASEL";
  static final char[] possibilities = "ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ ".toCharArray();
  static int C = 100; 
  static double minMutateRate = 0.09;
  static int perfectFitness = target.length();
  private static String parent;
  static Random rand = new Random();

  private static int fitness(String trial){
    int retVal = 0;
    for(int i = 0;i < trial.length(); i++){
      if (trial.charAt(i) == target.charAt(i)) retVal++;
    }
    return retVal;
  }

  private static double newMutateRate(){
    return (((double)perfectFitness - fitness(parent)) / perfectFitness * (1 - minMutateRate));
  }

  private static String mutate(String parent, double rate){
    String retVal = "";
    for(int i = 0;i < parent.length(); i++){
      retVal += (rand.nextDouble() <= rate) ?
        possibilities[rand.nextInt(possibilities.length)]:
        parent.charAt(i);
    }
    return retVal;
  }
  
  public static void main(String[] args){
    parent = mutate(target, 1);
    int iter = 0;
    while(!target.equals(parent)){
      double rate = newMutateRate();
      iter++;
      if(iter % 100 == 0){
        System.out.println(iter +": "+parent+ ", fitness: "+fitness(parent)+", rate: "+rate);
      }
      String bestSpawn = null;
      int bestFit = 0;
      for(int i = 0; i < C; i++){
        String spawn = mutate(parent, rate);
        int fitness = fitness(spawn);
        if(fitness > bestFit){
          bestSpawn = spawn;
          bestFit = fitness;
        }
      }
      parent = bestFit > fitness(parent) ? bestSpawn : parent;
    }
    System.out.println(parent+", "+iter);
  }

}