The effect of distance metrics in a general purpose synthesizer of imperative programs: A second empirical study using enlarged search spaces

Abstract

Program synthesis is the task of automatically finding a program that satisfies the user intention. In previous work, we developed APS-GA, a program synthesizer based on a genetic algorithm. As genetic algorithms depend on a fitness function, so does APS-GA. Researchers argue that different distance metrics for a fitness function may reveal behavioral differences in the genetic algorithm. More recently, we presented initial evidence that APS-GA was not affected by different distance metrics for its fitness function. However, that study was carried out on a medium-sized scale.