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Software Application Development Best Practices

by

Stella Robinson

Over 80% of projects are unsuccessful because they are over budget, late, missing function, or a combination. Moreover, 30% of the software projects are so poorly executed that they are canceled before completion. Software project using modern technologies are no exception to this rule. This article is about the best practices for software development projects.

Development process

To have development process for your project is an important thing because all other activities are derived from the process. For most modern software development projects, some kind of spiral-based methodology is used over a waterfall process. There are several choices, including the Rational Unified Process (RUP), IBM Global Services Method, and eXtreme Programming (XP). In many cases it is less important on what process is used than how well it is executed. The commonly used methodologies listed above all contain guidance about how to execute the process and templates for artifacts.

Project Requirements

Gathering project requirements and agreeing on requirements prior to begin any project is must for its success. It s not necessary to collect all requirements before any architecture, design and coding are done, but it is important for the development team to understand what needs to be built. Generally requirements are broken into functional and non-functional. A good way to document functional requirements is using Use Cases. Non-functional requirements describe the performance and system characteristics of the application. It is important to gather them because they have a major impact on the application architecture, design, and performance.

Architecture

Selecting appropriate architecture for your application is key to success. Tried and true practices are called patterns and they range from the classic Gang of Four patterns, Java patterns, to EJB design patterns. Sun\’s equivalent is the Core J2EE Patterns catalog. Most of the projects are failed. The study of these failures has given rise to the concept of antipatterns. They are valuable because they provide useful knowledge of what does not work, and why.

Design

Many applications are either over-designed or under-designed. The two basic principles here are \”Keep it Simple\” and information hiding. For many projects, it is important to perform Object-Oriented Analysis and Design using UML.

Coding

Construction of the code is a fraction of the total project effort, but it is often the most visible. Other work equally important includes requirements, architecture, analysis, design, and test. A best practice for constructing code includes the daily build and smoke test. Martin Fowler goes one step further and suggests continuous integration that also integrates the concept of unit tests and self-testing code.

Stella Robinson is working with an eminent and professional Offshore Mobile and Web development agency named Peerbits. At present she is writing on

Software application development

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