1. The Software Development Process¶
Running programs created by others is relatively simple
The hard part is starting to create your own programs
Computers are very strict and there are many details
So it is necessary to be very systematic
1.1. Steps in the Software Development Process¶
- Analyze the problem:
Understand exactly what is the problem to solve?
Well-defined problem, halfway solved problem.
- Specification of what the program will do:
Describe exactly what your program will do.
At this stage, I shouldn’t worry about how I’m going to make my program? but more decide exactly what it will do?
What are the inputs and outputs of the program?
- Design the program:
Formulate the general structure of the program.
We can use pseudocode at this step.
- Implement the program:
Design some tests to validate your program.
Translate the project to any programming language.
In this course we will use Python.
1.2. Example: Fahrenheit to Celsius temperature converter¶
- Problem analysis:
Given a temperature in Fahrenheit, obtain the conversion in Celsius.
- Specification of what the program will do:
Input: temperature in Fahrenheit
Output: temperature in degrees Celsius
Output: 5 * (F-32) / 9
- Design of how the program will work:
Read the value of temperature in Fahrenheit.
Convert the value using the formula
5 * (F-32) / 9
Print the converted value.
- Implementation of the problem:
Tests: 32F = 0C and 100F = 37.8C