Metaheuristics are powerful classes of optimization techniques that have gained a lot of popularity in recent years.  The power of metaheuristics lies in their capability in dealing with complex problems with no or little knowledge of the search space, and thus they are particulary well suited to deal with a wide range of computionally intractable optimizations and decision-making applications. These techniques can provide useful and practical solutions for a wide range of problems and application domains like Software Engineering field.

Software engineering is the application of a systematic, disciplined, quantifiable approach to the development, operation, and maintenance of software. It encompasses techniques and procedures, often regulated by a software development process, with the purpose of improving the reliability and maintainability of software systems. The effort is necessitated by the potential complexity of those systems, which may contain millions of lines of code.