Software development is a peculiar process and involves a number of steps. For each step there are a number of approaches which a developer may use to get things done.
A software development company may use any one of the following common approaches to develop software that suits their or their clients needs.
- The Waterfall model:
The waterfall methodology is a design process that continues in a sequence. It appears that the process is effortlessly flowing downward like a waterfall stream does. It involves a series of steps such as conception, initiation, analysis, design, construction, testing, production and finally maintenance. It dedicates considerable emphasis upon source code and documentation. A software development company conveniently uses waterfall approach to develop software projects whose requirements don’t fluctuate that often.
- Software Prototyping:
Another methodology is to create prototypes of the software. Prototype of a software means an incomplete rendition of a software which can later be integrated with other prototypes of same software. A software development company makes best use of this approach as it’s a modular one.
- Agile software development:
Agile software development refers to the methodology which involves cross-functional teams which collaborate with each other to derive solutions and priorities on the whole.
This is the most flexible approach a software development company may use as it enables a comprehensive planning and constant improvisation.
There are no hard and fast rules to develop software and a software development company’s programmers may use any technique or logic as may be found feasible. Some more methodologies will be discussed in another article. Those will be iterative design, spiral model, rapid application development and extreme programming.