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<p>In most <a href="Computer_programming" title="Computer programming">computer programming</a>, a programmer keeps a program's intended results in mind and painstakingly constructs a program to achieve those results. <b>Inferential programming</b> refers to (still mostly hypothetical) techniques and technologies enabling the inverse. This would allow describing an intended result to a computer, using a metaphor such as a <a href="Fitness_function" title="Fitness function">fitness function</a>, a test specification, or a logical specification, and then the computer, on its own, would construct a program needed to meet the supplied criteria.
</p><p>During the 1980s, approaches to achieve inferential programming mostly involved techniques for logical <a href="Inference" title="Inference">inference</a>. Today the term is sometimes used in connection with <a href="Evolutionary_computation" title="Evolutionary computation">evolutionary computation</a> techniques that enable a computer to evolve a solution in response to a problem posed as a fitness or reward function.
</p><p>In July 2022, <a href="GitHub_Copilot" title="GitHub Copilot">GitHub Copilot</a> was released, which is an example of inferential programming.
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<div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="Closely_related_concepts_and_technologies">Closely related concepts and technologies</h2></div>
<ul><li><a href="Logic_programming" title="Logic programming">Logic programming</a>
<ul><li><a href="Prolog" title="Prolog">Prolog</a></li></ul></li>
<li><a href="Constraint_programming" title="Constraint programming">Constraint programming</a></li>
<li><a href="Artificial_intelligence" title="Artificial intelligence">Artificial intelligence</a></li>
<li><a href="Genetic_programming" title="Genetic programming">Genetic programming</a></li>
<li><a href="Machine_learning" title="Machine learning">Machine learning</a></li>
<li><a href="Artificial_life" title="Artificial life">Artificial life</a></li>
<li><a href="Evolution" title="Evolution">Evolution</a></li>
<li><a href="Metaprogramming" title="Metaprogramming">Metaprogramming</a></li></ul>
<div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="See_also">See also</h2></div>
<ul><li><a href="Automated_reasoning" title="Automated reasoning">Automated reasoning</a></li>
<li><a href="Compiler_theory" class="mw-redirect" title="Compiler theory">Compiler theory</a></li>
<li><a href="Unit_testing" title="Unit testing">Unit testing</a></li></ul>
<div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="References">References</h2></div>
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<div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="External_links">External links</h2></div>
<ul><li><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20170921204139/http://repository.cmu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=3542&context=compsci">First steps towards inferential programming(Archived link)</a></li></ul></div><!--htdig_noindex--><div><div class="zim-footer">
This article is issued from <a class="external text" title="Last edited on 2024-10-31" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/?title=Inferential_programming&oldid=1254564891">Wikipedia</a>. The text is available under <a class="external text" href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/deed.en">Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0</a> unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.
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