WHAT IS SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT?
“The task of the Software development team is to engineer the illusion of simplicity” - Grady Booch
Software development is the process of creating, designing, and developing software programs. The group of people who develop software is called developers. The software can include all the games like Angry Birds, programs, set of data and instructions used to do a certain operation in a computer, etc.
Lets understand deeply every aspect of software development.
Software development is a collective process of designing, implementing, documenting, testing, bugging, and running all operations involved in developing software, framework, or any other components. Its primary job is to write, maintain and update the source code, but it also manages the entire process from having a vision of the product to the actual outcome.
The software that is being developed can be different: a customized one or an open-source one. The customized software is built according to the client’s requirements. It is then maintained and updated further in the future according to the requirements. The open-source software is the ones that can be accessed, studied, and distributed by any client on any platform; the source code is released under a license and the copyright holder grants the permission.
THE SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT LIFE CYCLE:
The software development life cycle is a series of steps and phases that are required to develop software.
The steps are:
- Analysis- This is an important step of the software development process which includes defining and deciding the problem statement, planning the entire process, deciding the cost and benefits. It is divided broadly into two steps- the preliminary analysis and system analysis.
- System Design- In this step, the features and operations are discussed thoroughly. It includes working on hardware requirements and deciding the system architecture.
- Implementation- It is the longest phase of the software development process. It can also be called the coding phase or development phase. The actual source code of the program is written here by dividing the entire step into small modules.
- Testing- Once the entire code is written, it is brought in a special testing environment to check if the code is fulfilling its purpose and solving the problem statement. All the errors and bugs are resolved here.
- Deployment/Evolution - In this step the product is finally delivered to the client.
- MAINTENANCE- This is an advanced future step to the entire process which includes solving problems if the client is facing some, updating the software for the client’s efficient use.
TYPES OF SOFTWARES:
There are three main types of software which are classified based on their use and applications-
System Software- This is also called Operating System OS. The computer works in a machine-readable language. The input is given to a computer in a language that the computer does not understand; the platform that the computer uses to translate the commands into its language is Operating System.
Example- Popular examples of an operating system are-
- Windows OS - Microsoft
- Mac OS- Apple Macbook
- Linux- Ubuntu
Application Software- This is the most popular one as people use this to perform operations on phones and desktop screens.
Example- Word processing apps, Photo-editing apps, Anti-virus services, Media players such as MX-Player, etc
Programming Languages- This is the tool to make software. There are many programming languages present that are used by many developers to create software to solve a particular problem statement.
Example: PHP, Simlab, Java, C, C++, etc.
TYPES OF SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT:
There are different types of software development-
- Web Development
- Mobile Development
- Embedded Systems development
- API development- Application Programming Interfaces
- Application Development
- System Development
- Game Development
DIFFERENT LANGUAGES YOU MUST KNOW FOR SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT:
Developers use a variety of development languages such as:
- C++
- Java
- PHP/MySQL
- HTML/CSS/JavaScript
- Flash/ActionScript
- Microsoft.NET
- Ruby on Rails
- Microsoft XNA
- Node.js
DIFFERENT SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT TOOLS TO LEARN:
There are many tools such as -
- Embold- It is to fix bugs that save a lot of time. It helps in learning the issues related to security, stability, and uncovered issues of the source code.
- Kite- This is an editor that can code in more than 16 languages.
- NetBeans- This one is a popular, free, and open-source IDE. (Integrated Development Environment) for development.
- Cloud9 IDE- This allows cloning the entire development environment. It also supports several languages such as PHP, Java, JavaScript, Python, etc.
- Bootstrap- This is a responsive framework that is used in the development process. It works with HTML, CSS, and JS.
- Github- This offers the developer a platform to manage projects, review their written codes, and develop the software.
A DEVELOPER:
A developer is a person who is concerned with everything related to the software development process.
The Roles and Responsibilities of a developer are:
- They work with multiple platforms, developing languages to create efficient software.
- It includes researching, designing, testing, and implementing everything related to the software.
- They use a set of tools to create a product from scratch or modify the existing one.
- The specific purpose of developing software must be fulfilled.
- They lead a team that includes other developers, software engineers, and programmers.
TYPES OF DEVELOPERS:
There are many kinds of developers according to their skill sets-
- Web developer
- Application developer
- Game Developer
- System Developer
- Back-end Developer
SKILLS OF A SOFTWARE DEVELOPER:
The skills a software developer must have are-
- They enjoy solving puzzles, have a natural aptitude for mathematics, and are creative-minded.
- They are problem solvers and forward thinkers.
- They have patience, leadership, and team management skills.
JOBS THAT USE SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT-
Many jobs are present in the IT industry that uses software development. Here are some of them-
- Computer Programmer- Programmers write code for applications. They also maintain, update, monitor, and test software as needed.
- Database Administrator- Database administrators improve and look after the performance of the database of the company or project. They also maintain the system’s database and security. The privacy of data is very crucial.
- Software Engineer- Software Engineers test programs and manage projects and business requirements. They work under the observation of software developers.
- Software Developers- They work for the overall growth of the project. They mostly are the ones who lead the team.
There is immense growth in software development with each passing day as technology is reaching new heights.