Software Engineering - Evolving Computer Programs

Explore the intersection of software engineering and evolutionary biology in this illuminating lecture by Stephanie Forrest from the Santa Fe Institute. Delve into the complex world of software development, examining how large systems evolve inadvertently through the actions of multiple programmers, often leading to unexpected and costly outcomes. Discover how concepts from biology, particularly Darwinian evolution, can revolutionize our approach to creating, understanding, and debugging software. Learn about the properties of biology that can be applied to computer programming, the nature of software bugs, and the implementation of bug bounty programs. Investigate repair techniques, the prevalence of bugs in software, and the surprising effectiveness of random mutations in solving programming issues. Gain insights into the neutral theory of evolution and its relevance to software engineering, and understand the importance of these concepts in the broader context of technological advancement.