Finch: A System for Evolving Java (Bytecode)

Abstract

The established approach in genetic programming (GP)involves the definition of functions and terminalsappropriate to the problem at hand, after whichevolution of expressions using these definitions takesplace. We have recently developed a system, dubbedFINCH (Fertile Darwinian Bytecode Harvester), toevolutionarily improve actual, extant software, whichwas not intentionally written for the purpose ofserving as a GP representation in particular, nor forevolution in general. This is in contrast to existingwork that uses restricted subsets of the Java bytecodeinstruction set as a representation language forindividuals in genetic programming. The ability toevolve Java programs will hopefully lead to a valuablenew tool in the software engineer's toolkit.