Programming and Software Development

Programming and software development are the terms that you will always hear used together. There is a strong connection between these two processes and often people do not see any difference between them. Programming is giving certain instructions to a computer, so it performs required actions and operations. It is important to understand that programming is not all about writing code. Instead, software development, which is a wider skill, governs programming. To eliminate all the confusion, we will explain both of these terms.

Software development

The method programmers use to create computer programs is called software development. Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC) is a process that consists of several stages. When creating, and designing computer programs, SDLC is used as a standard by software developers. It provides a clear framework for development teams to adhere to when designing, creating, and maintaining quality software. The goal of IT software development is to create useful solutions within set budgets and timelines.

Main steps of SDLC

• Identification of needs. This is the stage which includes the market research and brainstorming process. Before a company builds software, it needs to do extensive market research to determine the viability of the product. Developers must identify the features and services provided by the software so that the intended consumer can get the most out of the software and find it necessary and useful. There are several ways to get this information, including feedback and surveys from prospective and existing customers.
  Your internal IT team and other departments should also discuss product strengths, weaknesses, and opportunities. The software development process begins only when the product meets all the parameters necessary for success.
• Requirement analysis. Requirements analysis is the second phase of the software development life cycle. Here, stakeholders agree on technical and user requirements and specifications to achieve the goals of the proposed product. This phase provides a detailed overview of all components, developer tasks, and test parameters to deliver a quality product. This is also the stage where programmers choose software development approaches. The team records the results of this phase in a software requirements specification document. Teams can refer to this document at any time during project implementation.
• Design. It is the third stage of the SDLC. Here, architects and developers create the high-level technical specifications necessary to create the software to your requirements. Stakeholders discuss factors such as risk level, team composition, applicable technology, time, budget, project limits, methodology, and architectural design.
  A Design Specification Document (DSD) specifies a product’s architectural design, components, communications, front-end representation, and user flow.
• Development and implementation. The next stage includes the development and implementation of design parameters. Developers write code based on the product specifications and requirements agreed on in the previous stage. The front-end developer builds the interface and back-end, and the database administrator creates the relevant data in the database, according to company procedures and guidelines.
• Testing. The testing phase checks the software for bugs and validates its performance before distributing it to users. At this stage, professional testers verify product functionality and ensure that it works according to the requirements analysis document.
  Testers validate the performance of individual components of software if they have experience with that software or test scripts. After that, they notify developers of code defects. If the developer confirms the defect is valid, the developer improves the program, and the testers repeat the process until the software is bug-free and behaves according to requirements.
• Deployment and maintenance. If the software is flawless, the developer can provide it to the customer. After the production release of the software, the IT software development company forms a maintenance team to manage the problems customers encounter while using the product.

Types of software development

• Application development. It offers consumers the ability to conduct tasks. Media players, social media tools, workplace productivity suites, and reservation systems are a few examples. Applications can be run by the user’s computing device, servers hosted in the cloud, or by internal IT.
• System software development. It provides core functionality such as operating systems, storage systems, databases, networking, and hardware management.
• Embedded software development. It helps to create software that is used to control machines and devices such as cars, phones, and robots.

In general, each category of software development attracts different types of software developers. For instance, creating software for medical devices demands programmers who are highly versed in creating safety-critical systems. It is essential for all facets of healthcare software development, but it is a speciality that a regular application software developer is unlikely to have. To be effective at creating software for the notation and performance of music, a music software developer has to be musically talented and have a solid understanding of formal music theory. Security software developer has to have more than just programming abilities; they also need to know every facet of IT security. The creation of application software for mobile devices like phones and PDAs is the focus of mobile development.
The created software be sold to third parties or may stay proprietary within the company. Additionally, it can be made freely accessible to anybody who wants to use it; this process is known as open-source development.

Programming

Programmer and software developer are terms that are frequently used interchangeably. Software developers may refer to themselves as programmers or coders.
However, there is a big difference:

• A programmer is a person that can only write codes.
• A software developer is a person with programming skills who can solve business problems. They are skilled team members who can design, develop, implement, and maintain software.

A computer program consists of code that runs on your computer to perform a specific task. A programmer writes this code.
Programming is the process of giving a machine a set of instructions that describe how to run a program. Programmers spend their entire careers learning different programming languages ​​and tools so that they can build their programs effectively.
A programmer starts by creating what is called source code. It is a group of lines of code written in a programming language that is understandable to other programmers. The source code must be translated into machine language so that the machine can understand the instructions and execute the program. The process of converting source code into machine language is also known as compiling. Examples of compiled programming languages ​​are C and C++.
There are other languages ​​that do not use compilers. Instead, these languages ​​use interpreters that read and execute code. Examples of interpreted programming languages ​​are JavaScript and PHP.
Once the code is executed, it can run computer programs. Various types of computer programs include word processors, database systems, video games, websites, and more. These computer programs allow you to interact with various software devices and services, such as phones, websites, and the computer itself.

Programming languages

There are hundreds of programming languages nowadays. To choose an appropriate language, programmers need to analyse the needs of the application. The most popular programming languages are:

• Java
• Ruby
• PHP
• C/C++
• Python
• JavaScript

Some of these languages are programming languages of broader purpose, while others are used in specific areas of development. The first programming language beginner web developers usually learn is JavaScript. It is mainly used in her web development. You can use JavaScript to create mobile applications and video games. Python has a wide range of applications such as machine learning, web development, and data analysis.
Programming languages are grouped into categories. These are some of them:

• Procedural languages. Before a computer program is run using this method, many steps have to be taken.
• Assembly language. It is a low-level language that an assembler compiles. Machine code is converted to human code via assemblers.
• Machine language. This a low-level language that consists of 0’s and 1’s.
• Scripting languages. It is the category of languages that need to be interpreted.
• Object-oriented languages. These languages follow the idea of building programs around collections of objects.