What is Software Development?

Software development is the whole process of building, planning, testing, and maintaining a software. Software is developed using a set of data, it consists of databases that allow the functioning of a software. Software itself instructs a device or an application to perform specific actions. Software is developed using software development tools and best coding practices. Continuous testing is also conducted to ensure the software quality. The software can achieve certain functions effectively and seamlessly without any setbacks. 

Software developers use Software development tools that help them throughout the process. Continuous testing and project management is achieved using these tools. They follow the Software Development Life Cycle phases- steps to create and ensure software quality. DevOps- a collaborative work process between the software development team and IT Team is also followed to streamline the software development process.  

Importance of Software Development 

Software developers aim to create software that is well-structured, practical, and effective, and it can be done by using software development tools. Repetitive and continuous testing is done to ensure accurate software quality. Software tools are helpful in finding and fixing bugs. Implementing best coding practices is vital to achieving useful and systematic software. 

Software development is not only about creating software, it is also about the quality and functionality of the software. Software development goes through the whole Software Life Cycle (SDLC) phases; Collecting objectives, Planning, Analyzing, Designing, Coding (Implementation), Testing for software bugs, Deployment, and Bug fixing. The whole Software Development Life Cycle phases and DevOps strategies rely on software tools for achieving objectives.

Importance of Software Development Tools

Developers work on the different aspects of the software. They need to manage the tasks and improve the efficiency of their work at the same time, software development tools ensure both. They can track the progress, find bugs, manage tasks, and work on the complexities of the coding by using various software tools. They make sure to fulfill the objectives and maintain the software quality. Different tools can be used for implementing best coding practices, allowing continuous testing and ensuring software quality without any delays. 

Software Development Tools

Software tools assist in software development life cycle phases and contribute their part in best coding practices to complete a software project in a better way. Here, we will see the four most common software development tools and their functions that simplify the process of software development: 

  1. Jira
  2. GitHub 
  3. Jenkins 
  4. Visual Studio Code or VS Code

JIRA

JIRA is a well-known tool for software development, it enables easy management of software projects. It helps to manage and track the tasks. Developers can address and monitor bugs to organize the workflow. Software Quality Assurance is easy and convenient with JIRA. Some of the main functions of Jira performs include: 

It manages projects more effectively. Keep track of the progress ensuring the efficiency of a work along with meeting the deadlines. 

Project tasks are more organized. Mention the tasks and to-do list, be more organized by adding and monitoring daily tasks and bugs, and streamline your work efficiency. 

It allows reporting & addressing issues in an organized way. Have a track on bugs, errors, and issues. JIRA’s reports and dashboards facilitate decision-making with real-time data.

It allows space for collaborative working. Comments, notifications, and alerts allow the software team or DevOps to have a collaborative working space. It makes communication and interactions convenient. 

GitHub 

GitHub is a tool that allows a collaborative space for the developers to work on different software tasks. They can perform complex tasks together as a team, modifications can be made by each user and combined into a single file. Projects and coding files are stored in a space named as a repository, the developers’ collaborated files and projects can be found in the central repository. Modifications and editings are made collaboratively to ensure software quality. The basic functions performed by GitHub include: 

It allows effortless management of software projects. GitHub makes it easy to manage any tasks seamlessly. Keep track of the progress and manage the projects in an organized way to meet the deadlines.     

It supports collaborative teamwork. Complex tasks often require teamwork, GitHub provides a collaborative space to deal with the complexities of coding. Make a separate space to resolve bugs and edit codes.

It ensures effective coding for improving software quality. Coding is essential for software development. Coding allows computers to interpret and execute instructions, using GitHub to improve and fix errors in coding is one of the best coding practices. 

Fixing coding errors is quick and easy. Coding often contains bugs that disrupt the functioning of software, bug fixing is easier with GitHub as it allows a collaborative space to review and edit a code.

Jenkins 

Jenkins also contributes to software development life cycle phases. It facilitates the building, testing, debugging, and deployment of software. Jenkins uses Java and functions only with Java. Jenkins allows to automate the project management and project integration process from beginning to end. Jenkins streamlines the process of continuous integration and continuous delivery. It streamlines the process of software application improvements, advancements, and formatting by allowing continuous testing. The key functions performed by Jenkins include: 

It efficiently streamlines the workflow. Repetitive tasks including testing can be achieved with Jenkins. It saves the human from performing manual tasks repetitively, resulting in a streamlined workflow.   

It supports software optimization practices. Software development requires constant improvements, and continuous integration (CI) helps to achieve this goal. Continuous Integration ensures software quality by detecting any kind of errors in coding or overall software working.   

It allows and manages software testing. It allows continuous testing to ensure overall software quality. Repetitive testing can be done to save humans from the effort of manual testing. Integration tests can be performed at Jenkins to check the software.   

It allows automated deployment of software. Jenkins consists of CI/CD which allows the user to perform automated actions for fixing errors, and bugs and making overall improvements.  

It provides support for Extensive Plugins. Jenkins consists of a wide range of plugins, different plugins can be used and personalized according to the purpose. 

Visual Studio Code

Visual Studio code is a part of best coding practices, as it allows us to perform various tasks on coding effortlessly. It allows basic editing of the code or syntax highlighting, quick and continuous testing, debugging and other advanced coding tools are also accessible. It supports IntelliSense- a process of automated code completion depending on the context. VS Code is a software development tools that eases the work of developers in the following ways:   

It allows quick debugging. It detects any kind of errors in coding, and helps developers in the whole debugging process through continuous testing. Finding and fixing bugs is easy with VS Code. 

It ensures effective coding practices. VS Code allows different programming languages. It also suggests codes that relate to your goals. It also performs automated coding practices that make it ideal to use as a code editor.  

It saves time and effort of developers. Users can practice and use key shortcuts to save time. Quick actions and editings can be done on coding seamlessly. It allows automated actions to be performed on coding. 

Software Development in the Near Future

In a digital world, software development can never decline. The need for more software developers and engineers will rise in the future. It is always a good idea to master the software development life cycle phases as a developer. Different software development tools might be introduced in the future which consist of more advanced features for generating codes, continuous testing, debugging and managing tasks. 

Conclusion

Software development supports the creation and maintenance of software using software development tools and by employing the phases of Software Development Life Cycle. However, software development is not limited to creating software, software quality also needs continuous improvements and updates. Developers and software engineers utilize software tools to manage and perform software projects in a more organized and convenient way. Best coding practices can be employed using software tools that allow advanced code editing.