Today, in a context of growing digitalization, software development is becoming increasingly important. This is because a large part of people's daily life activities, as well as the functioning of companies and organizations, is beginning to be increasingly linked to software. Therefore, below, we want to talk on this occasion about the software development life cycle, what it is about and what its phases are.
What is software?
Before talking about the life cycle of software, it is necessary to define what we understand by this term. Software can be defined as the set of instructions, data or programs used to operate computers to carry out specific tasks. In this sense, software differs considerably from hardware, the latter being responsible for describing the physical aspects of the computer. In other words, software is a word that is used to define, in a generic way, different programs, applications and scripts that run on different devices.
What is the software development life cycle?
Following what was mentioned above, we can say that the Software development solutions life cycle refers to the structure that contains all the processes, tasks and activities that are related to both the maintenance and development of a software solutions. This covers, therefore, the entire life of the system, from the moment its requirements are defined until its use has ended.
The phases of the software development life cycle
Understanding its importance, the software development life cycle has different phases and steps that are necessary to ensure that the programs offer sufficient efficiency, stability and reliability, as well as to guarantee that they provide a safe and satisfactory experience for users. the users. In this sense, we can say that the phases of the software life cycle are the following:
Application
The first phase in the software development life cycle is the moment when the person or company requests a specific software product. In this initial moment, a communication is developed from which the client has the opportunity to announce what he is looking for, what his specific needs are, among other things. In this way and by providing this information, you make the development request official.
Planning
Once the software development consulting firms has the client's request and the information linked to it, the planning phase begins. For this, an exhaustive analysis of the client's requirements is necessarily included in order to study, for example, what clarity can be obtained from them.
From the analysis, what is ultimately done is to investigate in depth, making practical demonstrations that include the user model of the development that is going to be carried out. Requirements are grouped, both in functional terms and in system terms.
The feasibility analysis
When the step mentioned above has been resolved, it is time to move on to the phase known as feasibility analysis. In the software development cycle , the feasibility phase begins after the collection and grouping of requirements and what it is about is analyzing what part of the Software development solutions is capable of covering the users' requirements.
But, in addition, it is investigated whether the development that is considered necessary based on this is viable in technological and financial terms. Although it can be carried out in different ways, the most common thing is that it is done using algorithms to identify whether the project is feasible or not and if it is necessary to make modifications to the original idea.
Design and coding
The next phase consists of carrying out the logical and physical design of the development. In general, it is the stage where metadata and diagrams are created. Subsequently, comes the programming or development phase, in which the most convenient programming language is chosen for the particular case, while executable programs are developed.
The integration
Although this is not a phase that necessarily occurs in all cases, the reality is that software may require being integrated with data, with libraries or with other types of programs. In other words, we can say that it is the phase of development in which the software is integrated with other entities in the “outside world”.
Tests
Testing represents a fundamental phase in the software development life cycle . What it is basically about is testing the development as many times as necessary until you can be sure that the functionality is 100% appropriate. It is also the stage in which you can recognize if it is necessary to make modifications.
The implementation
Coming towards the end, deployment is the step in which the installation of the software is done. It is necessary, in this phase, to evaluate adaptability, integration and portability in order to later install subsequent configurations that are considered necessary.
The maintenance
Finally, the last phase of the custom enterprise software development life cycle is maintenance. He is the one who will be in charge of ensuring that the elements of the project continue to function properly, seeking to reduce small errors, improving efficiency or confirming the proper functioning of the development.