Software Product Development

Software development is a complex process influenced by various factors. Systematizing and describing each element would require an entire book, but it is important to highlight the most significant parts of this process. Typically, development is associated with a model, but that is not the only thing one needs to know.

Software is executable code that performs computational operations. It is a collection of elements that includes executable code, associated libraries, and documentation. If it is created to fulfill specific tasks, then it is referred to as a software product.

Another important concept to consider within this topic is engineering. This field involves the development of products using a specific scientific methodology.

Software engineering is a distinct area of activity in which software products are developed. It employs highly specific scientific methods and principles. The ultimate goal is to create high-quality and useful software products.

According to the IEEE definition, software development is the systematic, disciplined, and quantifiable approach to the development, use, and maintenance of software.

Structural Analysis Methods for Software Design

Structural methods constitute the discipline of system analysis and design. These methods allow for addressing various challenges associated with the specificity of large systems. This is achieved by differentiating them into constituent parts, also known as “black boxes,” and organizing these “black boxes” hierarchically.

The practical benefit of differentiation lies in the fact that when using these parts, it is not necessary to understand their inner workings. Users only need to know their inputs, outputs, and purpose. In simpler terms, it is necessary to understand the specific tasks that each “black box” should perform.

Based on this, during the initial stage of the process of simplifying a complex system, it is divided into several “black boxes.” However, the division must adhere to several key criteria:

• Each “black box” should have a single, unique function.
• The functions of these “boxes” should be conceptually understandable, even if their practical implementation is complex.
• Interconnection between system elements should only be established if their functions are interdependent. For example, in accounting, one “black box” may be used to determine an employee’s total salary, while another may be used to calculate taxes. It is evident that there should be a connection between them since knowing the salary is necessary to calculate the taxes.
• Any interconnections between “black boxes” should be as simple as possible, making them independent of each other.

Another fundamental aspect in the field of structural methods is the idea of hierarchy. To understand a complex system, it is necessary not only to differentiate it but also to ensure a well-organized arrangement of the derived parts. This is precisely why hierarchical structures are employed.

If we think about it, any complex system in our world, whether it’s an elementary particle or an entire galaxy, is necessarily organized in a specific hierarchy. When a complex system is developed by humans, they utilize this natural principle in their area of activity.

For example, every company has a director, deputy directors in various departments, a hierarchy of department heads, and ordinary employees. In addition to this, structural methods often employ visual modeling, which is necessary to simplify the understanding of complex structures.

Structural analysis is a method of studying a system. Initially, a general overview of the system is conducted, followed by a detailed examination of the obtained information. Ultimately, researchers obtain a hierarchical structure with multiple levels.

Functional decomposition is a crucial method of differentiation into abstraction levels within the framework of structural analysis. Decomposition involves dividing a whole into parts. In this case, it refers to breaking down a system into functional subsystems, which are then divided into sub-functions. The sub-functions, in turn, are further divided into tasks, and those tasks into specific procedures.

However, the system remains integrated, and all its components are interconnected. If the system is developed “bottom-up” (from specific tasks to the overall system), its holistic representation is lost. Additionally, difficulties arise in describing the information interaction between individual elements.

During the process of structural analysis and design, various models are used to describe:

• The functional structure of the system.
• The sequence of performed operations.
• The transfer of data between functional processes.
• The relationships between data.

The most commonly encountered models from the first three categories are:

• SADT (Structured Analysis and Design Technique), a functional model.
• IDEF3 model.
• DFD (Data Flow Diagrams), which are diagrams depicting the flow of data.

The Entity-Relationship Model (ERM), which describes the relationships between data. It is typically used in structural analysis and design and is a subset of the object-oriented model of the domain.

Stages of Software Development

The first stage of software development is preparation. The main task at this stage is to form the concept of the future system based on the client’s requirements. Based on this concept, developers assess the demand and feasibility of the project. If the decision to engage a contractor is made through a competition, then this stage involves preparing the potential employee for the competition (including the preparation of all necessary documents).

It is obvious that there is no point in investing time and money into a project that is potentially not in demand or feasible. In such cases, the most rational decision is to terminate the project.

There are situations where iterative work with the client is necessary to adjust the project concept until a sufficient balance between the client’s requirements and the contractor’s resources is achieved, or until a decision is made to conclude the development.

Once a feasible concept is established for the project, the stage of requirement development begins. This stage involves identifying the explicit and implicit needs of the client. Often, clients do not have a clear understanding of their own needs. In some situations, their needs do not align with the actual capabilities of the developers. Sometimes, client needs have internal contradictions.

The purpose of the requirement development stage is to address such problems. It is necessary to specify the client’s needs as precisely as possible and uncover their hidden requirements. Additionally, this stage aims to resolve contradictions between requirements, create a cohesive technical solution, and analyze its feasibility.

The specification of requirements often leads to adjustments in the project concept. However, in some situations, it is not possible to find an effective technical solution, and in such cases, the project is either closed or put on hold until favorable conditions arise.

If a solution is successfully found, the development process moves to the stage of designing the architecture of the future system. The main task of this stage is to define the high-level logical and physical architecture that can fully meet the client’s needs. During the architecture development, a review and refinement of the concept, requirements, and preliminary technical solution are carried out. This helps mitigate the most significant risks.

After the architecture design is completed, it is necessary to re-evaluate the project to determine if the contractor can implement the concept. During the architecture development stage, it is recommended to remove unnecessary and cumbersome functions. Such optimization often helps align the project with optimal parameters.

However, there are situations where a more significant reduction in the functional components of the future system is necessary. But even if the project’s work is suspended, it is still better than continuing the development.

If the result is positive and a favorable system architecture has been formed, the implementation and delivery stage follows. Implementation can be carried out in a single step or multiple stages. For small projects, it may be sufficient to have just one step. However, in large-scale projects, subsystems within the developed system become more interdependent.

In such cases, implementation is divided into a certain number of stages. This is done in a way that after each stage, developers have a deliverable result. The most important functions should be developed in the initial stages, while less critical ones are developed in subsequent stages. This approach ensures that the most critical system errors are addressed early on, enhancing the stability of the system’s foundation.

The next stage is the pilot operation. The main task of this stage is to test the system’s performance in real conditions. The evaluation often involves measuring quantitative metrics to determine the product’s quality. Initially, the focus is on testing functional quality, followed by non-functional aspects. If any discrepancies are identified during the evaluation, the developer makes corrections to the system code.

Once the system has been properly configured, it is put into operation. Usually, the developer provides support for the product they have developed for a certain period (at least during the warranty period). If any errors are discovered, the system is adjusted accordingly. Timely support in the form of consultations should be provided to users and the customer’s maintenance staff.

Sooner or later, the system will lose its relevance for the customer. From that moment on, we can talk about the stage of its decommissioning. However, for custom-developed software, this stage may not occur. The reason is that the customer, relying on their exclusive rights, may prevent the developer from further maintenance and configuration of the system even before it becomes outdated.

The final stage of any project is completion. During this stage, an analysis of the results is conducted, and adjustments are made to the software development process based on the acquired experience. Additionally, the developers’ knowledge base is enriched with new solutions that have proven their effectiveness, as well as various warnings and new components. All of this should be applied in the development of future projects.

Auxiliary processes in software development can be identified:

Documentation: The developer creates documentation and user guides for the software product being developed, both during and after the development process. Such documents allow programmers to understand the structure and code even after a long time has passed since their creation. At the same time, documentation helps users interact with the system.

Configuration Management: This refers to the activities involved in managing sets of software components being developed, as well as managing software product versions.

Quality Assurance: This process is necessary to ensure that the software development meets the preliminary requirements and the standards of both the executing organization and the customer.

Verification: It allows for the detection of errors that may have been made during software development. Additionally, verification helps identify any inconsistencies between the developed software and the established architecture.

Certification: It is necessary to confirm that the obtained values comply with accepted standards. In other words, the output data must have an error margin that satisfies all the requirements and norms.

Joint Assessment: This process aims to monitor and evaluate the state of the personnel and the software being developed. It is carried out by both the customer and the developer throughout the project.

Audit: It is necessary for an independent evaluation of the current situation, project characteristics, documentation, and various reports. This process allows for comparing the actual state of affairs with the contract and documents that specify the requirements. An audit can be conducted by one or both parties.

Problem Resolution: This involves addressing errors that have been identified during the control and evaluation stages.

Variety of Options for Organizing Software Development

Let’s highlight the basic components of this process.

The main goal of software development is to create a program that can perform a specific task and meet existing standards. The task at hand is described by a set of formal and informal (empirical) models. They define the processes carried out in the program and the data used in the process.

The task model consists of a collection of specialized models that describe various nuances of the problem being solved, reflected in the created program.

A specialized model is necessary to describe specific parameters of the phenomenon being studied. It allows focusing on particular characteristics.

The created program should perform functions that are necessary for solving the task on a specific executor (computational system). To reflect its characteristics, an executor model is used.

The executor model consists of a set of specialized models that describe the organization and behavior of the computational system executing the program.

The developed program serves as a mapping of the task model to the executor model. The level of programming complexity depends on the number of such specialized models describing the task, as well as their size and semantic differences from the specialized executor models.

Flexible Approaches to Software Development

Based on the family of iterative models, a highly prevalent approach to development called Agile has been created. It is more of an approach rather than a comprehensive methodology. The reason is that within a project, both iterative and cascading models can be used at different stages.

The essence of this approach lies in differentiating the development process into several separate tasks. Programmers can execute these tasks with a high level of independence from each other. Daily team meetings (Scrum) are organized to discuss the current state of the project. The development is divided into multiple stages called sprints. During these sprints, developers are expected to accomplish the set goals.

This approach is useful when the client has multiple ideas but is unsure which ones will be relevant at the start of the work. Additionally, new ideas may emerge from the client during the project implementation. Applying Agile also makes sense when working on large projects with a long lifecycle. Such projects need to be continuously adapted to changing market conditions.

Advantages:

• Software development can be started without a detailed plan. It only requires a few general ideas to be formulated.
• The client can have control over even the smallest changes in the product and make adjustments during the development process. This minimizes the risk of problems arising in the final stages.
• Development does not require significant financial investments. Additionally, thanks to short sprints, there is no need for constant adaptation of the project to market changes.

Disadvantages:

• Due to the lack of a clear plan, it can be challenging to provide an accurate estimate of the budget and time required for project implementation.
• There is a high risk of failure at the start, necessitating budget flexibility.
• Within this approach, a wide range of techniques, methodologies, and practices are employed. Let’s highlight some of them:

Scrum: Project participants are in constant interaction and discuss the current progress.

Kanban: A virtual task board is used, and the sequence of task execution is not predetermined.

RUP (Rational Unified Process): It involves clear stages of planning, refinement, and building new iterations of software.

Extreme Programming: Frequent product version updates and the search for the most efficient solutions.

Each of the above-mentioned methods assumes readiness for making adjustments and interacting with the client. The focus is on developing valuable software and self-organization of project participants, while documentation and formal responsibilities take a secondary role.

Speaking of Agile methodologies, it is worth mentioning the so-called Lean Software Development. Its goal is to increase the efficiency of product development and improve the effectiveness of all work processes. In other words, development is organized in such a way that it takes less money and time to implement the project.

Skills and Abilities of a Software Developer

A software developer is an IT specialist who creates various programs for computers. They can work on corporate software, video games, PC programs, and more, using various software development tools. Such a professional should possess the following skills:

• Knowledge of at least one programming language.
• Understanding of object-oriented programming principles, algorithms, and data structures.
• Ability to work with operating systems, network protocols, and methods of information exchange over the network.
• Proficiency in testing and debugging code tools.

Frontend developers need to be able to:

• Create a dynamic, interactive interface based on a design.
• Pay attention to details and understand the nuances of the assigned task to ensure the usability of the product.
• Apply responsive design principles to create a cross-platform product.

Backend developers perform the following tasks:

• Develop backend programs using one of the programming languages.
• Interact with the file system, search and sorting algorithms.
• Configure integration with databases, create queries.
• Contribute to network security and organize software protection against various viruses and attacks.

Full-stack developers are versatile programmers who can handle all tasks related to software development, including both client-side and server-side aspects of the product. They need to have the following skills:

• Knowledge of multiple programming languages, popular libraries, and frameworks.
• Proficiency in version control systems like Git and using tools like Docker or Kubernetes for application building and deployment.
• Understanding of design patterns and proficiency in Agile methodologies.

When it comes to the qualifications of software developers, it is worth highlighting the advantages of Boosty Labs in terms of the high professional level of its development team. Founded in 2017 by Viktor Ihnatiuk, the company specializes in the development and enhancement of software projects for the crypto industry. Currently, Boosty Labs is one of the largest outsourcing companies in the industry, having implemented over 150 crypto projects, including Ledger, Consensys, Celsius Network, Storj Labs, Bloom Protocol, NEM, Elixir, and NEAR Protocol.

Boosty Labs offers a range of services, including Fintech, Martech, DevOps, Manual QA, Auto QA, Team augmentation, Growth Team extension, Neo banking, Embedded ERP, Risk management, Supply chain, CPM, and many others.

In mobile development, they cover areas such as Mobile development, Android development, iOS development, Cross-platform, Flutter, Wallets, Trading platforms, Machine Learning, ML Classification, ML forecast, and more. The languages used in mobile development include Java, Swift, Xamarin, Kotlin, React Native, and Objective-C. For desktop development, they utilize WPF, C#, Electron, GraphQL, Elixir, Erlang, and Backend.

Their blockchain development expertise includes DeFi development, DLT, Smart contracts, Crypto exchange, P2E Games, Staking platforms, Crypto wallet, Web3, Cryptocurrency, Decentralized marketplaces, P2P, NFT, Tokenization, and a vast range of other areas. The languages used in blockchain development include Solidity, Golang, Rust, C++, Scala, Substrate, Clarity, Motoko, Cadence, Babylon.JS, and Sway.

The company’s web developers utilize tools such as .Net, Node.js, JavaScript, TypeScript, PHP, Python, Angular, Vue.js, Yii, FrontEnd, and SDET.

Among the blockchains the company’s team works with on various projects are Ethereum, Polkadot, IBM Foundation, Hyperledger, Binance Chain, Huobi Chain, Cosmos, TRON, Graph, Aptos, Ripple, Stellar, Solana, Algorand, and others.