You may ask why you need to follow any of the steps, because program development is just sitting down and writing code. However it is not so, with such an approach it is impossible to create a normal application.
Depending on the size of the program projects the development stages can vary, in some cases these stages will be very detailed and bureaucratic, and in some cases they will be simply formulated in any form convenient for developers.
So, for example, when building a shed at your dacha you will not plan, examine, inspect anything in detail, but in the case of, say, with the construction of a power plant everything will be planned in great detail, designed, the mode of workers will be painted by the minute, because the cost of error at any stage will be much higher than in the case of construction of a simple shed.
Similarly, in software development, if the project is large and very important, which may affect the lives of people or associated with huge financial risks, all stages of software development will be observed, ie worked out in detail and even add new steps, microstages and so on.
All this is done to prevent the appearance of errors and to implement the product that is really needed.
The earlier errors are detected, or the wrong approach is identified in the implementation of a particular action, the lower the cost of these errors will be. In other words, depending on the stage of error detection its price can vary from 10 to 100 times. For example, if at the initial stage the price of error correction will be 100 rubles, at the stage of testing it might reach 10 000. That is why the stages of software development are very important and a developer should follow them and try to convey this vision to the managers who always want only the result. Since they either allocate too little time for this or do not consider it necessary at all, for example, why should you work out some requirements or design something there when programming.
The main stages of software development
Here are the stages which in most cases must be followed in software development:
Stage 1 – Identifying the problem
Stage 2 – Elaboration of the requirements
Stage 3 – Creating a development plan
Stage 4 – Development of the system architecture or high level design
Stage 5 – Detailed design
Step 6 – Coding and debugging
Phase 7 – Component Testing
Phase 8 – Integration of components
Phase 9 – Test the entire system
Stage 10 – Maintenance, Modification, Optimization
This might sound like a complicated plan to some, but if you’re working on a big project, you’ll come across it all, and even a more detailed plan.