I'd say the biggest problem is more in the selection than generation / mutation. In the world, it's easy to determine the winner - he passes on more of his genes. But if we've got two potential solutions, neither of which actually pass the test, how do we select which to continue mutating, and which to let die? And when you've got two that *do* pass the test, how do you select between them? Size? Running time?
It would make an interesting project for a year or two, though :) -Josh On 15 October 2010 11:20, Casey Ransberger <casey.obrie...@gmail.com> wrote: > The previous thread about testing got me thinking about this again. One of > the biggest problems I have in the large with getting developers to write > tests is the burden of maintaining the tests when the code changes. > > I have this wacky idea that we need the tests more than the dev code; it > makes me wish I had some time to study prolog. > > I wonder: what if all we did was write the tests? What if we threw some > kind of genetic algorithm or neural network at the task of making the tests > pass? > > I realize that there are some challenges with the idea: what's the DNA of a > computer program look like? Compiled methods? Pure functions? Abstract > syntax trees? Objects? Classes? Prototypes? Source code fragments? How are > these things composed, inherited, and mutated? > > I've pitched the idea over beer before; the only objections I've heard have > been of the form "that's computationally expensive" and "no one knows how to > do that." > > Computational expense is usually less expensive than developer time these > days, so without knowing exactly *how* expensive, it's hard to buy that. And > if no one knows how to do it, it could be that there aren't enough of us > trying:) > > Does anyone know of any cool research in this area? > _______________________________________________ > fonc mailing list > fonc@vpri.org > http://vpri.org/mailman/listinfo/fonc > -- "Therefore, send not to know For whom the bell tolls. It tolls for thee." Josh 'G-Funk' McDonald - j...@joshmcdonald.info - http://twitter.com/sophistifunk - http://flex.joshmcdonald.info/
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