Software Development

Definition, Types and Processes

Software development provides a series of steps for programmers to create software. This process makes up the phases in the software development life cycle. Understanding the software development method offers vast opportunities in today's world.

In this article, we explain software development, summarize types of computer programs and explore jobs that use software development processes.

What is software development?

Software development is the process programmers use to build computer programs, websites, and applications. The process, also known as the Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC), includes several phases that provide a method for building products that meet technical specifications and user requirements.

In order to maintain an effective product within a defined budget and timeline we use the SDLC, which provides an international standard that software companies can use to build and improve their software. It offers a defined structure for development teams to follow in the design, creation and maintenance of high-quality software.

Types of software

Application software

The most common type of software these days is application software, it is a computer software package that performs a specific function for a user, or in some cases, for another application. An application can be self-contained, or it can be a group of programs that run the application for the user. Examples of modern applications include office suites, graphics software, databases and database management programs, web browsers, word processors, software development tools, image editors and communication platforms such as cellphones and tablets.

System software

These software programs are designed to run a computer's application programs and hardware. System software coordinates the activities and functions of the hardware and software. In addition, it controls the operations of the computer hardware and provides an environment or platform for all the other types of software to work in. The OS is the best example of system software; it manages all the other computer programs. Other examples of system software include the firmware, computer language translators and system utilities.

Driver software

Also known as device drivers, this software is often considered a type of system software. Device drivers control the devices and peripherals connected to a computer, enabling them to perform their specific tasks. Every device that is connected to a computer needs at least one device driver to function. Examples include software that comes with any nonstandard hardware, including special game controllers, as well as the software that enables standard hardware, such as USB storage devices, keyboards, headphones and printers.

Middleware

The term middleware describes software that mediates between application and system software or between two different kinds of application software. For example, middleware enables Microsoft Windows to talk to Excel and Word. It is also used to send a remote work request from an application in a computer that has one kind of OS, to an application in a computer with a different OS. It also enables newer applications to work with legacy ones.

Programming software

Computer programmers use programming software to write code. Programming software and programming tools enable developers to develop, write, test and debug other software programs. Examples of programming software include assemblers, compilers, debuggers and interpreters.

Key steps in the software development process

Brainstorm and Market Research.

Before you build a software, you need to perform extensive market research to determine the product's viability, identify the services and functions the software should perform and provide so that its target audience will find it useful. There are multiple ways of achieving the information needed like user groups, surveys, feedback forms, A/B tests, and more.

You must also discuss the strengths, weaknesses and opportunities of the product. Research your competition if available, and make sure to be ahead of your competitors.

Requirement analysis

Stakeholders agree on the technical and user requirements and specifications of the proposed product to achieve its goals. This phase provides a detailed outline of every component, the scope, the tasks of developers and testing parameters to deliver a quality product.

Requirement analysis is usually led by a product owner and involves the respective stakeholders. The team records the outcome of this stage in a Software Requirement Specification document which teams can always consult during the project implementation.

Technical Design

While stakeholders will discuss factors such as risk levels, team composition, applicable technologies, time, budget, project limitations, architects and developers draw up advanced technical specifications they need to create the software to requirements.

The Design Specification Document (DSD) specifies the architectural design, components, communication, front-end representation and user flows of the product. This step provides a template for developers and testers and reduces the chances of flaws and delays in the finished product.

Development and Implementation

Developers will start coding based on the product specifications and requirements agreed upon in the previous stages. Following company procedures and guidelines. Front-end developers build interfaces and user interaction, whole back-end developers build the layer where most of the business logic lives, and interact with the API and/or database.

The programmers also test and review each other's code. Once the coding is complete, developers deploy the product to a QA environment where the Quality Assurance Engineers make sure the software is built to the specifications agreed upon. This allows them to test a pilot version of the program to make performance match the requirements.

Testing

During the testing phase the Quality Assurance Engineers check the software for bugs and verifies its performance before delivery to users.In this stage, product's functions are being verified to make sure it performs according to the requirements analysis document.

Testers use exploratory testing if they have experience with that software or automated test scripts to validate the performance of individual components of the software. They log the defects and triage it with the product owner and the developers to prioritize and assess the risks. If developers confirm the flaws are valid, they improve the program, and the testers repeat the process until the software is free of bugs and behaves according to requirements.

Deployment and maintenance

Once the software is defect-free, the developers can deliver it to customers. After the release of a software's production version, the IT software development company creates a maintenance team to manage issues clients encounter while using the product. Maintenance can be a hot-fix if it is a minor issue but severe software failures require an update.

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