Software development, also known as software design is the process of developing software in an organized manner. The software produced by a programmer can be used for a number of reasons, but 3 of the most popular purposes of software development are for personal use, to cater to the needs of potential users (which is the case in developing open source software and commercial software), and to meet the needs of a certain business or client.There are a lot of approaches when it comes to developing software.
Some of them are done on a step-by-step basis, wherein the program is very structured and run as final, and some of this software is developed and updated to the needs of a certain business. But whatever the approach used, these stages are always present in their development:
1. Research of the target market
2. Gathering of the needed information for the business solution proposal
3. Analysis of the problem
4. Making a plan or a structure of the software that will be developed
5. Coding of the software
6. Testing and implementation of the software
7. Software development or programming
8. Maintenance and debugging of the program
These are called the software development lifecycle or in short, SDLC.
The various types of software development may put these stages in various orders, or the programmer could spend more time on one stage than the other, depending on the needs of the business, but all the same, these stages are the very foundation to successful software design.