What tools are software suites that automate systems analysis, design, and development?

Software development refers to a set of computer science activities dedicated to the process of creating, designing, deploying and supporting software.

Software itself is the set of instructions or programs that tell a computer what to do. It is independent of hardware and makes computers programmable. There are three basic types:

System software to provide core functions such as operating systems, disk management, utilities, hardware management and other operational necessities.

Programming software to give programmers tools such as text editors, compilers, linkers, debuggers and other tools to create code.

Application software (applications or apps) to help users perform tasks. Office productivity suites, data management software, media players and security programs are examples. Applications also refers to web and mobile applications like those used to shop on Amazon.com, socialize with Facebook or post pictures to Instagram.1

A possible fourth type is embedded software. Embedded systems software is used to control machines and devices not typically considered computers — telecommunications networks, cars, industrial robots and more. These devices, and their software, can be connected as part of the Internet of Things (IoT).2

Software development is primarily conducted by programmers, software engineers and software developers. These roles interact and overlap, and the dynamics between them vary greatly across development departments and communities.  

Programmers, or coders, write source code to program computers for specific tasks like merging databases, processing online orders, routing communications, conducting searches or displaying text and graphics. Programmers typically interpret instructions from software developers and engineers and use programming languages like C++ or Java to carry them out.

Software engineers apply engineering principles to build software and systems to solve problems. They use modeling language and other tools to devise solutions that can often be applied to problems in a general way, as opposed to merely solving for a specific instance or client. Software engineering solutions adhere to the scientific method and must work in the real world, as with bridges or elevators. Their responsibility has grown as products have become increasingly more intelligent with the addition of microprocessors, sensors and software. Not only are more products relying on software for market differentiation, but their software development must be coordinated with the product’s mechanical and electrical development work.

Software developers have a less formal role than engineers and can be closely involved with specific project areas — including writing code. At the same time, they drive the overall software development lifecycle — including working across functional teams to transform requirements into features, managing development teams and processes, and conducting software testing and maintenance.3

The work of software development isn’t confined to coders or development teams. Professionals such as scientists, device fabricators and hardware makers also create software code even though they are not primarily software developers. Nor is it confined to traditional information technology industries such as software or semiconductor businesses. In fact, according to the Brookings Institute (link resides outside of ibm.com), those businesses “account for less than half of the companies performing software development.”

An important distinction is custom software development as opposed to commercial software development. Custom software development is the process of designing, creating, deploying and maintaining software for a specific set of users, functions or organizations. In contrast, commercial off-the-shelf software (COTS) is designed for a broad set of requirements, allowing it to be packaged and commercially marketed and distributed.

Software testing arrived alongside the development of software, which had its beginnings just after the second world war. Computer scientist Tom Kilburn is credited with writing the first piece of software, which debuted on June 21, 1948, at the University of Manchester in England. It performed mathematical calculations using machine code instructions.

Debugging was the main testing method at the time and remained so for the next two decades. By the 1980s, development teams looked beyond isolating and fixing software bugs to testing applications in real-world settings. It set the stage for a broader view of testing, which encompassed a quality assurance process that was part of the software development life cycle.

“In the 1990s, there was a transition from testing to a more comprehensive process called quality assurance, which covers the entire software development cycle and affects the processes of planning, design, creation and execution of test cases, support for existing test cases and test environments,” says Alexander Yaroshko in his post on the uTest developer site.

“Testing had reached a qualitatively new level, which led to the further development of methodologies, the emergence of powerful tools for managing the testing process and test automation tools.” 1

Continuous testing

Software testing has traditionally been separated from the rest of development. It is often conducted later in the software development life cycle after the product build or execution stage. A tester may only have a small window to test the code – sometimes just before the application goes to market. If defects are found, there may be little time for recoding or retesting. It is not uncommon to release software on time, but with bugs and fixes needed. Or a testing team may fix errors but miss a release date.

Doing test activities earlier in the cycle helps keep the testing effort at the forefront rather than as an afterthought to development. Earlier software tests also mean that defects are less expensive to resolve.

Many development teams now use a methodology known as continuous testing. It is part of a DevOps approach – where development and operations collaborate over the entire product life cycle. The aim is to accelerate software delivery while balancing cost, quality and risk. With this testing technique, teams don’t need to wait for the software to be built before testing starts. They can run tests much earlier in the cycle to discover defects sooner, when they are easier to fix.

What are the software suits that automate systems analysis design and development?

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