Soft computing has been a major field of development in the previous couple of decades. The field attracts the attention of a large number of people. The highly multidisciplinary nature of the field further results in a large number of students studying soft computing. The various developments in application areas of soft computing in the previous few years have shown a very large potential for the development of highly-scalable systems using the soft computing tools and techniques.
The present literature beautifully covers the theoretic concepts, but the practical applications might still be very difficult for students to comprehend and implement. Many students find it difficult to visualize the application of soft computing from a theoretical text alone. This book not only aids them in understanding these systems, but also exposes them to the current developments over various fields. This empowers them to pursue research in these areas and contribute towards the research and development at large. The basic purpose of this book is to expose the real life applications and systems of soft computing to the readers. This will enable them to get an in-depth, practical exposure to the methodology of the application of the soft computing approaches in various situations. This book also discusses the various issues and difficulties involved in the process.
The book can also be used as a standard text or reference book for courses related to soft computing, pattern matching, artificial neural networks, etc. The book may be rated as an “elementary” to “advanced” book that introduces the concepts of soft computing to a good extent and then advances to their real life practical examples. Every care has been given to nicely explain all the theoretical concepts, algorithms, applications, tools, and techniques. We have tried to ensure that readers using this as the first text of soft computing are also able to understand each and every line of book.
The book incorporates some of the recent developments over various areas. Many other models have been proposed in the recent years that still exist in theoretical studies and elementary experimentations. These models have not been discussed in the book. Also, due to limited space we have not been able to cover many new exciting areas where soft computing finds applications, such as weather monitoring and music compositions. We would be looking forward to include these in the future editions.