The Software Development Process

• Programming is part of the software development process.
  • We will look at parts of this process through the semester.
  • You will study this topic in far more detail in Senior Project and other classes.
• The Wikipedia article is a good introduction.
  • Ya, it is Wikipedia, but it is OK.
• What we do in this class is very primitive
  • This is an evolving thing, we are still learning.
  • But we need to be aware of the process.
• The basic idea is
  1. Problem Specification
     • Listed as Requirements gathering and analysis.
     • What is the problem we are solving?
     • What is the input?
     • What is the output?
     • What other constraints exist (computer usage, performance, ...)
     • We will need to do most of these things this semester.
  2. Planning and Design
     • How will we solve the problem? (develop an algorithm)
       • We will need to do this part this semester.
     • What is the timeline, what parts need to be done first?
     • What resources will be needed? (programmers, hardware, ...)
  3. Development
     • Turn the design into code.
     • This is mostly what we will be doing this semester.
  4. Testing and quality assurance
     • Does the implemented code do what it is supposed to?
     • You will need to do this for the next 15 weeks.
  5. Deployment and implementation
     • Actually put the code into use.
     • Integrate it with other systems.
     • Train the users
     • This will not be a concern for us this semester
  6. Maintenance and support
     • Fix bugs that occur.
     • Fix security holes
     • Supporting users
• In 1956 Herbert Benington introduced a version of this called the Waterfall Model.
  • This is a much maligned method, but it works to illustrate the process.
  • And it is probably what you will do for this semester.
  • There are more modern methods, but that is for later.
  • In the basic waterfall method, tasks flow from the first step to the last.
  • In the modified method, you might move back to a previous task.
  • (From Dale, Programming and Problem Solving with C++)
• We have used the word algorithm several times.
  • An algorithm is a set of instructions to solve a problem in a finite amount of time.
  • Note this is not necessarily a program, altho a program is an algorithm in a specific language.