Software development is a process of dividing Software project works into distinct phases to improve the design, quality and user interface. This process is also known as software development life cycle. Phases of software development are same for all trades such as .net, Php, website designing, Odoo development, Android development etc.
Software development is the combined process involved in creating software programs. Software development is the process of Computer Programming, recordings, analysis, and bug fixing involved in generating and maintaining applications. For a software to be successfully developed we should definitely follow the steps of software development.
- Requirement Gathering and analysis
- Design
- Implementation or coding
- Testing
- Document
- Deployment
- Training and Support
- Maintenance
Requirement Gathering and analysis
Requirement gathering and analysis is the first and most important stage in software development. In this stage, the discussion is held between user and project team, in order to determine the requirements like, User-end needs, Hardware requirement, Input criteria, Output criteria, What kind of users, domain etc.. It requires skill and experience in software engineering to recognize incomplete, ambiguous or contradictory requirements. This can be done with several discussions, demonstrations or meetings.
After gathering the relevant requirements, we should analyze them. There are many sub-stages for this like feasibility analysis, time frame analysis etc.
Design
In this phase project or software design is prepared from the requirement specifications. System Design helps in specifying hardware and system requirement and also helps to define overall architecture of the software. The architecture of a software system refers to an abstract representation of that system. Architecture is concerned with making sure the software system will meet the requirements of the product, as well as ensuring that the future requirements can be addressed. This design specification serves as an input for the next phase of the model.
Implementation or coding
This phase is the logical part of the entire process. On receiving system design document, the work will be divided into modules /units called task allocation and actual coding is started. Since, in this phase, the code is produced, so it is the main focus for a developer. Many developers work together to get the final successful result for the software. This is the longest phase of Software Development.
Testing
By the end of the coding phase, the software is sent for the testing process. At this stage, it is tested to check whether the product actually solves the needs of the customer. It also tests the Quality of codes, functional error, functional tests like unit testing, integration testing, system testing, acceptance testing etc…
After the testing of all modules in the software, then it’s a bug/error-free software. So the testing process is completed.
Document
An important task is documenting the internal design of software for the purpose of future maintenance and enhancement.
Deployment
After the testing the software is delivered to the customer for their use. The customer will test the software. If any change is required or if any bug is caught, then they will report it to the engineering team. Once the issues are fixed the final deployment will happen
Training and Support
A large percentage of software projects fail because the developers fail to realize that it doesn't matter how much time and planning a development team put into this in order to create a software if nobody in an organization ends up using it. People are occasionally resistant to change and avoid entering into an unfamiliar area, so as a part of the deployment phase, it is very important to have training classes for the software users (build confidence), and finally, incorporate the rest of the organization into adopting the new software. Users will have lots of questions and software problems which leads to the next phase of software.
Maintenance
Maintaining and enhancing software to cope with newly discovered problems or new requirements can take far more time than the initial development of the software. Sometimes maintenance is extending systems to do new things, which in many ways can be considered as a new work altogether.