Understanding Software Development: Processes, Roles, and Types

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Any business, being successful and prosperous offline, sooner or later, seeks to expand its prospects and audience reach by ensuring its digital presence and/or automating existing workflows. Whether it is launching a website, application, service, or an entire system, all these events require a carefully thought-out, well-structured approach from the start. But what basics and intricacies lie in this complex and sophisticated approach? Below, we will overview various development types, architectures, tools, stages, use cases, and much more – in general, everything you may need to understand this process better and delve into its specifics and nuances.

Short Introduction to Software Development

So, let’s start with the definition. In a nutshell, this is the set of activities aimed at creating and implementing websites, applications (mobile, web, wearable, etc.), and everything else that we described in the intro. It consists of building architecture, creating user interface design, coding, testing, deployment, and further support of digital solutions.

The Software Development Lifecycle (SDLC)

Let’s consider the aforementioned stages in more detail.

Planning

This stage involves collecting product requirements from the client (both technical and non-technical), analyzing market trends and competitors, and then transforming these insights into a list of specifications, according to which the IT development process will be conducted.

Design

Design consists of building the architecture of the future solution and creating visuals and user experience. It is important to note that these stages are implemented earlier than coding since programmers must determine how users will interact with the product being created. Only after that they add interactivity and the ability to solve specific problems.

Development

Now, all is ready to begin writing the program code. This procedure can be divided into frontend and backend, involve programming for separate OS (for example, mobile ones), or, if the solution is desktop, creating a single codebase.

Testing

Testing begins long before the codebase is completed. In particular, unit testing is applied to finished project modules – these can be individual functions (or their combinations), pages/screens, and so on. Then, after the final assembly, the team covers the finished product with test cases. Here, numerous types of testing can be applied, such as integration, functional, acceptance, and more.

Deployment

Deployment involves installing or uploading software into the environment of its use and configuring it (if necessary). Also, if needed, the team carries out the required integrations with third-party solutions, after which they check the correct functioning of both the created solution and the updated infrastructure as well.  

Maintenance

Once the product is used by its target audience, the team maintains it: fixes post-launch bugs, eliminates malfunctions, and updates it as new tech and non-tech requirements arise.

Comparing Software Development and Software Engineering

Along with the first concept, there is also an overlapping one that differs a little bit. In particular, the purpose of the first one is to create digital solutions to solve specific problems of their target audience and the owners themselves. In turn, software engineering covers a broader area, including different types of development and a systematic approach to the entire SDLC to ensure the proper quality and reliability of the solutions created.

Different Types of Software Development

To better disclose the topic of this article, we propose to analyze different types of software development.

Front-End Development 

This type involves working on the part of an application or website that the end user directly interacts with. It is about creating visuals and structure, as well as ensuring the interactivity of individual functional elements of the solution.

Back-End Development

This type is related to implement the server side of an app or website to ensure that its interface responds to user actions in a predetermined way. At the same time, some services can be created and supported by backend developers as separate entities without requiring the creation of the frontend part.

Web Development

It involves the implementation of the two above-mentioned types of development, as well as design, testing, performance optimization, and other stages to create software solutions that meet modern standards.

Mobile Development

It can be native, cross-platform, or hybrid. The first involves working with an SDK, which is supplied directly by the official mobile OSes’ teams. The second type requires cross-platform libraries and/or frameworks that use platform-independent programming languages ​​and components. Finally, hybrid one lies in building a native-like shell and an embedded browser, which requires using web-based coding languages, such as CSS, JavaScript, HTML, etc.

Embedded Systems Development

It solves specific problems within a single, more global system. It differs from other types in the programming languages ​​used (usually C, C++, Java, Python, Rust, Lua, B#, etc.) and testing specifics.

API Development

Finally, this one ensures seamless data exchange between autonomous solutions. In essence, API is an “intermediary” that correctly transforms data so that it can come from one software in one format and be processed in another in a different format.

Use Cases and Examples in Software Development 

Now, it’s time to check the specific cases.

Enterprise Software Development 

Typically, this one is used to automate regular business operations in a particular company. Its purpose is to minimize the influence of the human factor, reduce costs, speed up business processes, etc.

Web and Mobile Development

They include creating autonomous commercial solutions for web and mobile platforms, respectively. It is usually used either by steady businesses that want to expand their target audience or by entrepreneurs who want to monetize their startup ideas.

Cloud Computing

Cloud solutions can be implemented according to SaaS, PaaS, IaaS, and other models. The team builds a customizable digital product that can later be used by different businesses or individuals to solve specific problems through a subscription.

IoT and IIoT

It involves creating solutions based on autonomous devices and algorithms that ensure data exchange between these devices without direct human intervention. Specific examples of such solutions are smart homes, cities, hospital life support systems, etc.

Software Development Methodologies 

There are several common methodologies of software development process used by programmers.

Agile Software Development 

It is one of the most popular software development methodologies that implies an iterative approach aimed at flexibility, constant in-team interaction, and smooth communication with the product owner. It focuses on incremental product releases, each optimized based on the feedback received.

DevOps 

These are practices that unite the SDLC and IT operations to reduce time to market and ensure seamless delivery of new product versions without compromising quality. This is achieved primarily thanks to automation and collaboration.

Continuous Integration and Delivery (CI/CD) 

These practices enable frequent delivery of code changes by automating the processes of integrating, reviewing that code, and then deploying it to different environments.

GitOps 

In a nutshell, it is an approach aimed at delivering new versions of applications using Git repositories and automating their management and updates.

Software Development Architecture Patterns 

Let's consider two of the most popular architectural patterns.

Microservices Architecture 

This approach needs dividing the software development projects into small services that can be deployed independently. Each such service is responsible for a specific function. In turn, interaction between services is carried out through the API. Programmers like this approach for scalability (by 2028, its market is expected to grow to $13.14 bln from $6.41 bln in 2024), but it is not universal and causes high costs for building the initial architecture.

Monolith Architecture 

This is a somewhat outdated approach that involves creating software as a single whole. With this approach, all its components and modules are interconnected. Initially, creating such applications is easy, but as their requirements are updated, their support may lead to the fact that, at some point, they will have to be rebuilt from scratch.

Essential Software Development Tools 

So, what are the most common tools used by project teams?

Integrated Development Environment (IDE) 

It is a comprehensive environment that includes a program code editor, as well as automated build and debugging features. Common examples of IDEs are IntelliJ IDEA, Eclipse, and Xcode.

Build Tools 

These tools simplify the process of compiling code through automation. Specifically, it converts the code into executable files or libraries. Examples of such tools include Maven and Ant.

CI/CD Tools 

These tools speed up the process of making changes to code by continuously integrating it and then deploying the updated version to the environment where it already operates. Jenkins, GitLab CI/CD, and CircleCI are considered the most popular examples of such tools.

Source Control Tools 

This type of tool is used to improve the efficiency of code change management by providing programmers with extensive collaboration capabilities. A common example of such tools is Git.

Software Testing Tools 

Testing tools are used to automate the testing process, thereby speeding it up. Selenium and JMeter are good examples of software solutions in this category. 

Collaboration and Project Management Tools 

This is a broad category that simplify project management and streamline communication between team members. Examples include Slack, Jira, and Trello.

Documentation Tools 

Finally, this type of tool is designed to create and manage software documentation. They usually contain a list of customizable templates that can be adapted to a project of any purpose. A particular example of such software is Swagger. 

Software Development Best Practices 

Let’s move to the best practices.

Use Version Control 

You should use version control tools to effectively manage changes in code and share them with your teammates. For instance, with their help, you can roll back the version to the desired one through the change history if necessary.

Use Environment Variables 

These variables help you customize the behavior of your software to the requirements of the environment it runs in. This keeps your code and configuration separate, so you can protect sensitive data and make it easier to move your solution from one environment to another.

Refactor Code Regularly 

Since this process involves optimizing your code without changing its logic, you can ensure that it is clean, readable, and scalable.

Conduct Code Reviews 

This recommendation involves additional checking of changes before they are committed to the main code base. This will help prevent hard-to-fix bugs and, thus, positively impact the quality of the created solution.

Implement Multiple Testing Levels 

As we mentioned above, testing can begin when individual modules of a project are ready (i.e., unit testing) and continue until the project is ready (i.e., system testing). This allows you to gradually reduce the number of bugs and inconsistencies without delaying the product launch date. 

Minimize Technical Debt

Reducing technical debt involves systematically conducting the above-mentioned refactoring and feedback processing. This way, as your solution ages, you will reduce the risk that its optimization will affect enormous resource expenses.

Adhere to Coding Principles: KISS, YAGNI, DRY, and SOLID 

These principles allow you to write clean and scalable code from the very beginning. In particular, the KISS principle focuses on the code’s simplicity, YAGNI prohibits adding new functionality until there is an urgent need for it, DRY is aimed at eliminating code repetition in different parts of the software, and SOLID defines the correct approach to object-oriented programming.

Foster Communication and Collaboration

You should not neglect interaction with other members of your team – this way, you will be able to exchange experiences for the benefit of the project and coordinate your ideas and approaches before implementing them (and, thus, avoid unnecessary work if they are rejected for some reason).

Maintain Excellent Software Documentation

Since documentation helps your teammates better understand how the product works, you need to keep it updated and detailed. Otherwise, you risk causing downtime because some team members may need time to figure out on their own the things which were not mentioned in the documentation.

Conclusion 

We hope that now, you know the answer to the fundamental questions like: “How does software development work?” and “What is a software developer?”, as well as know the basic concepts associated with it. If you are looking for an experienced team that will implement your idea in software exactly as you intended, feel free to contact us.