What is Software Development?

Software development is the entire process of designing, coding, specifying, documentation, testing, and debugging involved in developing and maintaining software, frameworks, programs, or other computer applications. Software development can be done internally by a single software engineer or it can be outsourced to a firm that specializes in software development. Software developers usually write, maintain, test, and debug software applications.

There are two stages involved in software development. In the beginning, software development teams prepare the technical specification or prototype. The purpose of preparing the prototype is to present to potential customers the detailed design and functionality of the product. At this stage, they will be able to define the scope of the product based on their understanding of the international standard. They will also have to determine the cost and schedule for its production.

Software Development Benefits:

Once the technical specifications have been completed and approved by the customer, software development teams begin their build process. During this phase, software engineers create the source code. While this code cannot be used for a product, it contains all the necessary information to allow the product to function. The build process also involves coding the program for manufacture. Once this step has been completed, software engineers add the various components of the product, such as the operating system, database, and communication interfaces to the final product.

Another aspect of the software development process involves using the right software engineering methodologies. The most widely accepted software engineering methodologies are those derived from the Theory of Constraints. These include the following: constraint programming, the principal constraint, the assumptions model, and the associated constraints, the message graph, the component model, the control procedure, the event management plan, and the user defined model. In order for the software development process to be successful, each of these methodology should be implemented in full. For that you can hire a offshore software development company from India to USA, UK, Europe, Germany and more.

Features:

Once the software developers complete their build process, they will submit their project to the customer for approval. During the approval process, the customer will verify that the product meets all of their requirements. The software development team then adds their modifications to the software. After the final approvals are received, developers begin the final steps of the software development cycle, which include quality assurance testing and bug-fixing procedures.

A software development career is a flexible career choice that allows the person to become specialized in a specific area of software development. Those who wish to develop desktop applications can choose to work as desktop application developers, network application developers, or Internet application developers. A software developer who develops console games can also specialize in game development. All three areas require different skills and have different responsibilities.

There are many software development methodologyologies to choose from. However, there are three main methods used today. These three methods include waterfall, agile, and scrum based methodology. Each methodologies has its advantages and disadvantages, but each has proven to be a solid way to build software products.

Methods of Software Development:

While the waterfall model has been the subject of much debate, most software engineers agree that it is one of the best methodology available. The waterfall model sets up the software development process by providing a series of goals with clearly defined steps to achieve them. Although this method may not be ideal for all situations, it provides a strong framework for all kinds of development process and is highly effective. Also, read our post on benefits of hiring custom software development company in USA here.

Another method used in waterfall method is known as the dependent model. With this technique, requirements are described using an intermediary item, which serves as a parenthesis, and the actual requirements as the next layer. With this method, there is no assumption made about the order of execution. It is possible to implement this in a number of ways, such as using an intermediary product, dependent upon what's left on the page as the parenthesis.

Agile methodologies bring together programming and testing procedures into an integrated development environment. It is considered to be a dynamic type of development methodology because it allows the developers to adjust or make changes to the software during the development process. Agile also separates the "code" from the "design" code. Both of these methodologies allow for rapid development of software products.

Final Words:

The last two methods, prototyping and systems analysis, enable the development process models to define the requirements, as well as control the testing phases of the process. The prototyping approach allows the developer to use computer assisted drawing (CAD) software to create a mock up model or prototype. Systems analysis helps the team determine if a concept is feasible. By using these system development methodologies, a team will have a clear path towards completing a program in the next stage.