The software crisis is usually defined in terms of projects running over budget and over schedule, though an equally important aspect is the poor quality of software measured in terms of its correctness, reliability and performance. The consequences of releasing faulty software into service may be devastating in safety-related applications, telecommunications and other areas. When the USA telecommunications system failed and half of the nation was isolated, lives and property were clearly put at risk | Telecommunications Optimization Heuristic and Adaptive Techniques. Edited by David W. Corne Martin J. Oates George D. Smith Copyright 2000 John Wiley Sons Ltd ISBNs 0-471-98855-3 Hardback 0-470-84163X Electronic 15 The Automation of Software Validation using Evolutionary Computation Brian Jones Introduction The software crisis is usually defined in terms of projects running over budget and over schedule though an equally important aspect is the poor quality of software measured in terms of its correctness reliability and performance. The consequences of releasing faulty software into service may be devastating in safety-related applications telecommunications and other areas. When the USA telecommunications system failed and half of the nation was isolated lives and property were clearly put at risk. Such potential disasters might be avoided by more careful and thorough validation of the software against specified functions reliability and performance. The modern world relies on its telecommunications networks in every facet of life from the ability to use credit cards at automatic teller machines in any part of the world to obtaining the latest pop song over the Internet from tele-working from home to teleshopping from home. The telecommunications networks are a vital part of the infrastructure of our economic social and cultural lives. The risks of software failure must therefore be balanced against the great benefits of using reliable software to support and control the business of telecommunications. The maturing discipline of software engineering must be applied to produce and validate software in which both the suppliers and the users may have confidence. To this end a number of standards have been developed specifically to encourage the production of high quality software some examples are the British Computer Telecommunications Optimization Heuristic and Adaptive Techniques edited by D Corne . Oates and . Smith 2000 John Wiley Sons Ltd 266 .
