Types of Software Development and their Uses
Every day, people and businesses look for ways to make their processes and activities easier and faster. Technology often is a go-to tool to achieve these objectives in a variety of ways. One way technology helps people to improve their processes is through software development.
This can be said to be a process of building computer programs. It involves conceiving, designing, building, testing, troubleshooting, and documenting applications. These applications or programs are then used to make life and processes easier for those using them. You may see more on this here.
Typically, software programs are designed and created to meet certain objectives. They can either be for private or commercial use. They are designed by people called software developers or simply programmers. These people use various programming languages to build operational computer programs.
Types of Software Development
Software development is a broad term to describe how computer programmers use different programming languages to build different applications. There are different types of software or applications that can be developed. Some of them are discussed below:
Web Development
This is one of the most popularly known types of application development. It is widely embraced as most businesses need websites or web applications for their business processes. Web applications are designed to be used on internet browsers.
Specialized tools and languages are used for their design including programming languages like HTML, CSS and JavaScript. Features such as APIs and other web services may also be used to connect and access functions from another web application.
Mobile App Development
Asides from the web, developing mobile apps is one of the most popular forms of software development. The advent of smartphones and mobile devices brought about a situation where people perform a lot of their daily activities on these devices.
They can perform banking transactions, receive, read and send emails and messages, buy various products and so on. They can also play games, watch videos, chat with friends, etc. There are mobile apps to do almost anything and if it is not currently available, it can be developed.
Businesses often have their mobile apps customized for them so that they can reach their customers easily. They also help to build loyalty to the brand. You can see their importance here https://yourstory.com/mystory/mobile-apps-important-business/amp.
Desktop Application Development
This was the earliest form of programming. They are typical applications that are used on desktop computer systems or on operating systems like Mac, Windows and Linux. They are considered on-demand programs that are executed when a user needs to use them.
Usually, these applications are confined to the OS that they are running on. A lot of them are enterprise applications and are designed to support the daily activities and functions of a business or user.
API Development
APIs are known as Application Programming Interfaces. They are a type of software that is used to provide functions that enable other applications to access external data. They also interact with components of external software, operating systems, or other micro-services. To simply put it, an API delivers a response from a user to a system and sends back the system’s response.
Usually, developers create programs across different systems acting as puzzle pieces. This can be a mobile, desktop, or web program. APIs allow 3rd-party programmers to interact with the functions the API is supposed to perform and integrate that in their software.
Security Application Development
Security is a big issue in the world of programming. Some people are waiting to penetrate systems and ruin their integrity. To counter this, there are hackers who in the positive sense try to test the vulnerability of the system.
When these vulnerabilities are discovered, they are then taken care of. They develop products to prevent malicious hackers from taking advantage of the system. This helps to keep a company's data and assets safe from viruses, theft, as well as malicious attacks.
Other forms of application development can include embedded systems, cloud computing and so on. If you like to customize and build any form of application, you can always find developers to help you in doing so. Be sure to get detailed software development cost estimation – download full guide to know what to expect – before awarding the project to any provider.
Conclusion
Software development has become a critical part of shaping people's lives and how businesses operate. From web applications to mobile apps, it helps to simplify processes and makes your business more efficient.
