In the past five years there has been a dramatic increase in work on Search Based Software Engineering (SBSE), an approach to software engineering in which search based optimisation algorithms are used to address problems in Software Engineering. SBSE has been applied to problems throughout the Software Engineering lifecycle, from requirements and project planning to maintenance and re-engineering. The approach is attractive because it offers a suite of adaptive automated and semi-automated solutions in situations typified by large complex problem spaces with multiple competing and conflicting objectives. This paper1 provides a review and classification of literature on SBSE. The paper identifies research trends and relationships between the techniques applied and the applications to which they have been applied and highlights gaps in the literature and avenues for further research.
Walter J. Gutjahr, Mark Harman