Fixing bugs in your sleep: How genetic improvement became an overnight success

Citation

Haraldsson S, Woodward J, Brownlee A & Siggeirsdottir K (2017) Fixing bugs in your sleep: How genetic improvement became an overnight success. In: 2017 Genetic and Evolutionary Computation Conference Companion, GECCO 2017. GECCO 2017: The Genetic and Evolutionary Computation Conference, Berlin, Germany, 15.07.2017-19.07.2017. New York: Association for Computing Machinery, Inc, pp. 1513-1520. https://doi.org/10.1145/3067695.3082517

Abstract
We present a bespoke live system in commercial use with self-improving capability. During daytime business hours it provides an overview and control for many specialists to simultaneously schedule and observe the rehabilitation process for multiple clients. However in the evening, after the last user logs out, it starts a self-analysis based on the day's recorded interactions. It generates test data from the recorded interactions for Genetic Improvement to fix any recorded bugs that have raised exceptions. The system has already been under test for over 6 months and has in that time identified, located, and fixed 22 bugs. No other bugs have been identified by other methods during that time. It demonstrates the effectiveness of simple test data generation and the ability of GI for improving live code.