Software design

• Software development is the process of taking a set of requirements from a user, analyzing them, designing a solution, and implementing that solution on a computer
• Programming is central to software development, but it's not the whole thing
• Software engineering involves software development and the entire management side of creating a computer program that people will use
• Software development is a narrowing of the focus of software engineering to just the creation of the actual software
• In software development, a small, well-integrated team is needed for effective communication and collaboration
• Good communication among team members and with the customer is essential for successful project completion
• Every project, regardless of size, follows a process; larger projects tend to be more plan-driven, while smaller projects tend to follow agile development processes
• Flexibility in the development process is crucial as requirements change and unexpected events occur
• A project plan is essential for implementing a software development project successfully
• Regular status meetings help developers stay informed about the project's progress and sync up with the team
• Selecting the right tools and practices for each project is crucial for its success
• Software development projects require flexibility as new requirements emerge and circumstances change
• Being able to acknowledge delays in a project schedule is important for effective project management
• Every program goes through a life cycle with steps like conception, requirements gathering, design, coding, testing, release, maintenance, and retirement
• Software development projects involve four variables: cost, time, quality, and features
• The waterfall model is a traditional plan-driven process model that progresses through various phases but has limitations in handling changes and backing up
• Iterative process models recognize that requirements evolve and mistakes happen, leading to a more flexible approach in building software products
• In the iterative model, the highest priority requirements are picked and a series of iterations are planned, where each iteration is a complete project
• For each iteration, a set of the next highest priority requirements is added, and the project is repeated
• Completing a project with a subset of requirements at the end of each iteration results in a complete, working, and robust product, albeit with fewer features than the final product will have
• Evolutionary prototyping is a traditional way of implementing the iterative model
• Evolutionary prototyping prioritizes requirements as they are received and produces increasingly feature-rich versions of the product
• Each version in evolutionary prototyping is refined using customer feedback and the results of integration and system testing
• Agile development focuses on working code as the goal of any software development project
• Agile methodologies emphasize writing tests before code, frequent product releases, significant customer involvement in development, common code ownership, and refactoring
• The Agile Manifesto values individuals and interactions over processes and tools, working software over comprehensive documentation, customer collaboration over contract negotiation, and responding to change over following a plan
• Extreme Programming (XP) was created around 1995 by Kent Beck and Ward Cunningham
• XP relies on heavy customer involvement, continuous unit testing, pair programming, and short iteration cycles with frequent releases
• XP's four fundamental ideas are heavy customer involvement, continuous unit testing, pair programming, and short iteration cycles with frequent releases
• XP's four basic activities are designing, coding, testing, and listening to partners and customers
• XP's 12 practices include the planning game, small releases, metaphor, simple design, testing, refactoring, pair programming, collective ownership, continuous integration, and maintaining a 40-hour work week
• XP philosophy shares similarities with Tom DeMarco’s Peopleware arguments
• People are less productive working 60-70 hours a week compared to 40 hours
• Scrum is a management approach in software development
• Scrum is a variation on the iterative development approach and incorporates features of XP
• Scrum uses teams of typically no more than ten developers
• Scrum defines three roles: product owner, Scrum master, and development team
• The development team in Scrum is self-organizing and decides on tasks and development processes during the sprint
• Scrum is characterized by sprints, iterations of between one and four weeks
• Scrum requirements are encapsulated in two backlogs: product backlog and sprint backlog