Gmail, Outlook, Facebook, Skype, Google Chrome, and the other tools you use on digital devices are software. Developers build them through a process called software development.
You may be reading these lines in a browser on a computer or phone. You may have opened it to search for jobs, apply for scholarships, join a business call, scroll through a social feed, or upload content to your organization’s website.
You may have used a management information system to generate reports, or asked Siri to play a song.
What the process includes
Software development includes everything between conceiving the desired software and producing it, sometimes through a planned and structured process.
It can include many activities that result in the software products we use every day:
- Research
- New development
- Prototyping
- Modification
- Reuse
- Re-engineering
- Maintenance
The same process, everywhere
Software can be applied to a huge variety of uses and contexts, but its development follows recognizable processes around the world. Code is what makes programs do what they are designed to do, and computers, within the limits of their capacity, apply its instructions exactly as they are laid out.
Code gives computers specific, logical instructions — for any person, in any country.
Where to go from here
Curious about building software yourself? Our practical guide, Do you want to learn coding? What’s next?, covers how to choose a reason, make time, and begin.
How else would you define software development?
