@staticmethod
def _mutate(gene, position):
    """
        This function does the actual mutation of the gene at a specific
        position.

        """
    if gene[position] == '0':
        gene = ''.join([gene[:position], '1', gene[position + 1:]])
    else:
        gene = ''.join([gene[:position], '0', gene[position + 1:]])
    return gene
