Evolutionary meta compilation: Evolving programs using real world engineering tools

Abstract

A general purpose system and technique is presented for the separation of target program compilation and fitness evaluation from the primary evolutionary computation system. Preliminary results are presented for two broadly different domains: (1) Software generated in the C programming language, (2) Hardware designs in Verilog, suitable for synthesis. The presented approach frees the developer from implementing and debugging a complex interpreter, and potentially enables the rapid integration of previously unsupported languages, as well as complex methods of fitness evaluation, by leveraging the availability of external tools. It also enables engineers (especially those in industry) to use preferred/approved tools for which source code may not be readily available, or which may be cost or time prohibitive to reimplement. Efficiency gains are also expected, particularly for complex domains where the fitness evaluation is computationally intensive. © 2008 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.