Software Development Life Cycle

1. Requirement Analysis :

The objective of the requirement analysis is to identify and document the user requirements for the proposed system. It is also the process of understanding what is needed or wanted, and expressing the result in writing. This is the process of understanding and putting in writing, a statement of what the application is intended to do, once it has been built. This is the first and perhaps the most important step in the software development. The main objective of the requirements analysis is to produce a document that properly specifies all requirements of the customer. That is called the Software Requirement Specifications (SRS) document is the primary output of this phase. This process involves Analysis who meet with interview and observe knowledgeable users to understand what the requirements are, In addition existing system, processes, documents and producers are also reviewed.

2.Design Process:

The design phase is the process of designing exactly how the specifications are to be implemented. It defines specifically how the software is to be written including an object model with properties and methods for each object, Analysis and design are very crucial in the whole development cycle. Any glitch in the design phase could be very expansive to solve in the later stag e of the software development, so much care is taken during this phase.

3. Development or Coding :

The design must be translated into a machine-readable form. The coding or development step performs this task. the development phase involves the actual coding of the entire application. If design is performed in a detailed manner, code generation can be accomplished without much complication programming tools like Compilers, Interpreters, Debuggers are used to generate the code. Different high level languages like C, C++, JAVA, COBOL etc., are used for coding, with respect to the type of application, the right programming language is chosen.

4. Testing :

Testing is the process of executing the proposed software with sample or test data and put it into regular use. Once the code is generated, the program testing begins. There are different testing methodologies are available to unravel the bugs that were committed during the previous phases. Different testing tools and methodologies are already available some companies built their own testing tools that are tailor made for their own development operations.

5. Implementation and maintenance :

The implementation phase is a staged roll out of the new application. This involves installation and initial training and may involve hardware and network upgrades. Software will definitely undergo changes once it is delivered to the customer. Thus are many reasons for the change. Changes could happen because of some unexpected input values into the system. In addition, the changes in the system could directly affect the software operations. The software should developed to accommodate changes that could happen during the post implementation period. The maintenance phase of the project is the last component and it continues as long as a warranty, extended warranty or support contract is in  place.