What Software Evolution and Biological Evolution Don't Have in Common

C.L. Nehaniv; J. Hewitt; B. Christianson; P. Wernick

doi:10.1109/SOFTWARE-EVOLVABILITY.2006.18

What Software Evolution and Biological Evolution Don't Have in Common

C.L. Nehaniv, J. Hewitt, B. Christianson, P. Wernick

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference contribution

20 Citations (Scopus)

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Abstract

Understanding software change as an evolutionary process analogous to biological evolution is an increasingly popular approach to software evolvability but requires some caution. Issues of evolvability make sense not only for biological and evolutionary computation systems, but also in the realms of artifacts, culture, and software systems. Persistence through time with variation (while possibly spreading) is an analogue to variation (with heritability). Thus discrete individual replicators are not strictly necessary for an evolutionary dynamic to take place. Studying identified properties that give biological and artifact evolution the capacity to produce complex adaptive variation could shed light on how to enhance the evolvability of software systems in general and of evolutionary computation in particular. Evolution and evolvability can be compared in different domains. But the evolution of software systems is also very unlike that of biological entities whose existence, persistence, development, and integrity as single individuals is actively maintained by the activity of the entities themselves over a long evolutionary history. Integrity of software systems – i.e. the assumption that they are well-defined, coherent individuals that develop – is presupposed by nearly all software process approaches and limits their effectiveness. Understanding the long-term evolvability of software systems as they undergo “descent with modification” thus requires much more than a traditional Darwinian approach. We compile and discuss differences and similarities between software evolution and other instances evolution toward this end.

Original language	English
Title of host publication	In: Proceedings of the 2nd Int IEEE Workshop on Software Evolvability '06
Publisher	Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)
Pages	58-65
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1109/SOFTWARE-EVOLVABILITY.2006.18
Publication status	Published - 2006

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title = "What Software Evolution and Biological Evolution Don't Have in Common",

abstract = "Understanding software change as an evolutionary process analogous to biological evolution is an increasingly popular approach to software evolvability but requires some caution. Issues of evolvability make sense not only for biological and evolutionary computation systems, but also in the realms of artifacts, culture, and software systems. Persistence through time with variation (while possibly spreading) is an analogue to variation (with heritability). Thus discrete individual replicators are not strictly necessary for an evolutionary dynamic to take place. Studying identified properties that give biological and artifact evolution the capacity to produce complex adaptive variation could shed light on how to enhance the evolvability of software systems in general and of evolutionary computation in particular. Evolution and evolvability can be compared in different domains. But the evolution of software systems is also very unlike that of biological entities whose existence, persistence, development, and integrity as single individuals is actively maintained by the activity of the entities themselves over a long evolutionary history. Integrity of software systems – i.e. the assumption that they are well-defined, coherent individuals that develop – is presupposed by nearly all software process approaches and limits their effectiveness. Understanding the long-term evolvability of software systems as they undergo “descent with modification” thus requires much more than a traditional Darwinian approach. We compile and discuss differences and similarities between software evolution and other instances evolution toward this end.",

author = "C.L. Nehaniv and J. Hewitt and B. Christianson and P. Wernick",

note = "This material is presented to ensure timely dissemination of scholarly and technical work. Copyright and all rights therein are retained by authors or by other copyright holders. All persons copying this information are expected to adhere to the terms and constraints invoked by each author's copyright. In most cases, these works may not be reposted without the explicit permission of the copyright holder.---- Copyright IEEE. Personal use of this material is permitted. However, permission to reprint/republish this material for advertising or promotional purposes or for creating new collective works for resale or redistribution to servers or lists, or to reuse any copyrighted component of this work in other works must be obtained from the IEEE. Original article can be found at: http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/",

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N1 - This material is presented to ensure timely dissemination of scholarly and technical work. Copyright and all rights therein are retained by authors or by other copyright holders. All persons copying this information are expected to adhere to the terms and constraints invoked by each author's copyright. In most cases, these works may not be reposted without the explicit permission of the copyright holder.---- Copyright IEEE. Personal use of this material is permitted. However, permission to reprint/republish this material for advertising or promotional purposes or for creating new collective works for resale or redistribution to servers or lists, or to reuse any copyrighted component of this work in other works must be obtained from the IEEE. Original article can be found at: http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/

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N2 - Understanding software change as an evolutionary process analogous to biological evolution is an increasingly popular approach to software evolvability but requires some caution. Issues of evolvability make sense not only for biological and evolutionary computation systems, but also in the realms of artifacts, culture, and software systems. Persistence through time with variation (while possibly spreading) is an analogue to variation (with heritability). Thus discrete individual replicators are not strictly necessary for an evolutionary dynamic to take place. Studying identified properties that give biological and artifact evolution the capacity to produce complex adaptive variation could shed light on how to enhance the evolvability of software systems in general and of evolutionary computation in particular. Evolution and evolvability can be compared in different domains. But the evolution of software systems is also very unlike that of biological entities whose existence, persistence, development, and integrity as single individuals is actively maintained by the activity of the entities themselves over a long evolutionary history. Integrity of software systems – i.e. the assumption that they are well-defined, coherent individuals that develop – is presupposed by nearly all software process approaches and limits their effectiveness. Understanding the long-term evolvability of software systems as they undergo “descent with modification” thus requires much more than a traditional Darwinian approach. We compile and discuss differences and similarities between software evolution and other instances evolution toward this end.

AB - Understanding software change as an evolutionary process analogous to biological evolution is an increasingly popular approach to software evolvability but requires some caution. Issues of evolvability make sense not only for biological and evolutionary computation systems, but also in the realms of artifacts, culture, and software systems. Persistence through time with variation (while possibly spreading) is an analogue to variation (with heritability). Thus discrete individual replicators are not strictly necessary for an evolutionary dynamic to take place. Studying identified properties that give biological and artifact evolution the capacity to produce complex adaptive variation could shed light on how to enhance the evolvability of software systems in general and of evolutionary computation in particular. Evolution and evolvability can be compared in different domains. But the evolution of software systems is also very unlike that of biological entities whose existence, persistence, development, and integrity as single individuals is actively maintained by the activity of the entities themselves over a long evolutionary history. Integrity of software systems – i.e. the assumption that they are well-defined, coherent individuals that develop – is presupposed by nearly all software process approaches and limits their effectiveness. Understanding the long-term evolvability of software systems as they undergo “descent with modification” thus requires much more than a traditional Darwinian approach. We compile and discuss differences and similarities between software evolution and other instances evolution toward this end.

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BT - In: Proceedings of the 2nd Int IEEE Workshop on Software Evolvability '06

PB - Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)

ER -

What Software Evolution and Biological Evolution Don't Have in Common

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