Software development is the process by which we develop computer software. The term covers a wide range of industries but can be most simply understood as the process of designing, writing, testing, and correcting code that determines how a computer system operates.
Software development is an ancient practice. We have historical data on the subject and can trace its evolution. In the early days, there was a dedicated research effort into software problems and solutions fundamental to machine operations. We see the beginnings of assembly language and attempts to develop software tools for analysis, design, and programming in this era.
Then, as computers became more common in commerce and industry, software patents began to be needed. Many important software concepts were patented. The first of these was a method for interpreting language. As computers became more prominent and influential, it became possible to develop software tools.
This era saw the introduction of structured programming and other concepts that became cornerstones of modern software development.
The early days of programming were typified by one programmer doing all the work, from writing code to testing it, logging bugs, and fixing them. This style continued in commercial software development until the mid-1980s when environments like Borland Turbo Pascal allowed several programmers to work in a unified environment where bugs could be fixed quickly and automatically. It was a crucial step in computer operations, as it permitted programmers to concentrate on the tasks relevant to their code’s intended function.
The mid-1980s also introduced object-oriented languages and development environments like Smalltalk, which allowed a programmer to take several functions and combine them into a single class. This idea had been attempted before in C++ with templates and templates for an inheritance, but Smalltalk created an interface that codified this idea. The next generation of programming languages would build on this idea, and the programming language Java was a direct descendant of Smalltalk.
The mid-1990s saw the rise of the Internet and the advent of websites. These sites required special software modules to interact with users and display data in a browser window. A whole new set of software tools was needed to create these pieces of software, and enterprising young developers began creating free tools like Perl and Javascript to help them achieve their goals. This period also marked the introduction of popular IDEs like Microsoft’s Visual Basic, making it easier for young students to begin programming computers.