Programming Environments And The Software Production Process

Introduction:
The creating of a computer program involves a number of stages which can be made easier with several separate software utilities. There are now integrated set of support programs which combine all the necessary utilities to provide a complete program development environment. These are known as programming languages, which include:

BASIC: Beginner's All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Code originally designed for Dartmouth's experimental timesharing system in the early 1960s, which has since become the leading cause of brain damage in proto-hackers & programmer because it encourages bad habits that will make it harder to use more powerful languages well.

PASCAL: A language designed in 1967 and released in 1968 as an instructional tool for elementary programming. This language was designed primarily to keep students from shooting themselves in the foot, became the ancestor of a large family of languages including Modula.

FORTRAN: FORmula TRANslator, is the oldest high-level programming language. Designed by John Backus for IBM in the late 1950s, it is still used, particularly for scientific applications that require extensive mathematical computations.

COBOL: Common Business Oriented Language, developed in the late 1950s and early 1960s, COBOL is the second-oldest high-level programming language. It is particularly popular for business applications that run on large computers.

COBOL is a wordy language; programs written in COBOL tend to be much longer than the same programs written in other languages. Although heated by many programmers for being outdated, COBOL is still the most widely used programming language in the world.

Java: Developed by Sun Microsystems. Java was originally called OAK, and was designed for handheld devices and set-top boxes. Oak was so unsuccessful, in 1995 Sun changed the name to Java and modified the language to take advantage of the burgeoning World Wide Web.

Java is an object-oriented language similar to C++, but simplified to eliminate language features that cause common programming errors. Java source code files are compiled into a format called bytecode, which can then be executed by a Java interpreter.

C: Was developed by Dennis Ritchie and Brian Kernighan at Bell Labs in the mid 1970s. Although it is a high-level language, C is much closer to assembly language than are most other high-level languages. C has proved to be a powerful and flexible language that can be used for a variety of applications, C is a particularly popular language for personal computer programmers because it is relatively small it requires less memory than other languages.

C++: Is an object-oriented language developed by Bjarne Stroustrup at Bell Labs. C++ adds object-oriented features to its predecessor; C. C++ is rapidly becoming the programming language of choice for graphical applications, such as those that run in Windows and Macintosh environments.

Ada : Is an object-oriented language developed in the late 1970s for the United States Defense Department. Ada was designed to be a general-purpose language for everything from business applications to rocket guidance systems. In addition, Ada is often the language of choice for large systems that require real-time processing, such as banking and air traffic control systems.

Assembly: A programming language that is once removed from a computer's machine language. Machine languages consist entirely of binary numbers and are almost impossible to read and write because the programmer must know instruction for every operation the computer will perform. Assembly languages have the same structure and set of commands as machine languages, but assembly enables a programmer to use names instead of numbers.

Stages of software production

Introduction:

Systems analysis and design is basically the processes used to analyse, design and implement general solutions to major projects. The conventional approach designed for analysis and design consist of a set of rules to follow which are known as the system life cycle. These rules are now open to much flexibility but form a suitable starting point for getting an idea of how major projects can be approached. This method is a follows:

Definition of the problem:
This first stage of the software production process is a detailed definition of the problem being addressed so a thorough understanding of the problem can be gained so that it is known what it is that the solution is to trying to achieve.

A feasibility study:
A preliminary investigation of a proposed system is essential to find out if the system is technically feasible and if so, whether the benefit of the proposed system can justify the costs involved in developing it.

Collecting information about the proposed system: Assuming that the feasibility study produces a favourable report, a detailed analysis of the current systems is careered out to generate information. The proposed system's requirements can then be determined in more detail, and a more detailed estimate of likely costs is undertaken.

Analysis:
An analysis of the problems that define how the proposed system will meet the requirements identified, this includes detailing what the software is required to do. Analysis involve identifying the system's inputs / outputs, etcetera. All the information generated in this stage is recorded in the form an algorithm that may be expressed in many ways including reports tables and system flow charts.

Design of the system:
Detailed design and coding (if necessary) to meet the requirements of the project including all the sub-sections of the project then testing and debugging the system using the specifications generated in the analysis stages.

Implementation and evaluation:
Installing and testing all aspects of the overall system, both the software and manual procedures involved, to ensure to works as expected and more importantly to discover any serious security holes or other unintended side effects in the system software and correct them. System documentation and staff training takes place at this stage.

Maintenance:
When the system is fully operational its performance will be continually monitored to assess its performance and ensure it continues to function correctly. Correcting bugs that may arose after extensive use. At some level, needs that are no longer satisfied by the current system will be identified, and the system development process begins again.

I am the website administrator of the Wandle industrial museum ( http://www.wandle.org ). Established in 1983 by local people to ensure that the history of the valley was no longer neglected but enhanced awareness its heritage for the use and benefits of the community.