| Machine learning is the study of how to build computer programs that improve their performance at some task through experience. The hallmark of machine learning is that it results in an improved ability to make better decisions. Machine learning algorithms have proven to be of great practical value in a variety of application domains. Not surprisingly, the field of software engineering turns out to be a fertile ground where many software development and maintenance tasks could be formulated as learning problems and approached in terms of learning algorithms.
To meet the challenge of developing and maintaining large and complex software systems in a dynamic and changing environment, machine learning methods have been playing an increasingly important role in many software development and maintenance tasks. The past two decades have witnessed an increasing interest, and some encouraging results and publications in machine learning application to software engineering. As a result, a crosscutting niche area emerges. Currently, there are efforts to raise the awareness and profile of this crosscutting, emerging area, and to systematically study various issues in it. It is our intention to capture, in this book, some of the latest advances in this emerging niche area. |
