WHAT IS A SOFTWARE?

Software is defined as collection of data, programs, procedures, associated documentaion and rules. which does not have any mass, volume and colour. software does not wear out,get tired or degrade over a long period of time

Software is a collection of instructions and data that tell a computer how to work. This is in contrast to physical hardware, from which the system is built and actually performs the work

Examples and types of softwares

Among the various categories of software, the most common types include the following:

• Application software. The most common type of software, application software is a computer software package that performs a specific function for a user, or in some cases, for another application. An application can be self-contained, or it can be a group of programs that run the application for the user. Examples of modern application include office suites, graphics software, databases and database management programs, web browsers, word processors, software development tools, image editors and communication platforms.
• System software. These software programs are designed to run a computer’s application programs and hardware. System software coordinates the activities and functions of the hardware and software. In addition, it controls the operations of the computer hardware and provides an environment or platform for all the other types of software to work in. The OS is the best example of system software; it manages all the other computer programs. Other examples of system software include the firmware, computer language translators and system utilities
• Driver software. Also known as device drivers, this software is often considered a type of system software. Device drivers control the devices and peripherals connected to a computer, enabling them to perform their specific tasks. Every device that is connected to a computer needs at least one device driver to function. Examples include software that comes with any nonstandard hardware, including special game controllers, as well as the software that enables standard hardware, such as USB storage devices, keyboards, headphones and printers.

• Middleware. The term middleware describes software that mediates between application and system software or between two different kinds of application software. For example, middleware enables Microsoft Windows to talk to Excel and Word. It is also used to send a remote work request from an application in a computer that has one kind of OS, to an application in a computer with a different OS. It also enables newer applications to work with legacy ones.
• Programming software. Computer programmers use programming software to write code. Programming software and programming tools enable developers to develop, write, test and debug other software programs. Examples of programming software include assemblers, compilers, debuggers and interpreters.

FEATURES OF A SOFTWARE

Characteristics of Software are classified into six major components:

These components are described below:

• Functionality:
  It refers to the suitability, accuracy, interoperability, compliance, security of software which is measured as  degree of performance of the software against its intended purpose. 
• Reliability:
  Refers to the recoverability, fault tolerance, maturity of software, which is basically a capability of the software that provide required functionality under the given situations.
• Efficiency:
  It is the ability of the software to use resources of system in the most effective and efficient manner. Software must make effective use of syetm storage  and execute command as per required timing.  
• Usability:
  It is the extent to which the software can be utilized with ease and the amount of effort or time required to learn how to use the software. 
• Maintainability:
  It is the ease with which the modifications can be made in a software to extend or enhance its functionality, improve its performance, or resolve bugs. 
• Portability:
  It is the ease with which software developers can relaunch software from one platform to another, without (or with minimum) changes. In simple terms, software must be made in way that it should be platform independent.  

WHAT IS SOFTWARE DEPLOYMENT?

What is Software Deployment?

Software Deployment Meaning: Software deployment includes all of the steps, processes, and activities that are required to make a software system or update available to its intended users. Today, most IT organizations and software developers deploy software updates, patches and new applications with a combination of manual and automated processes. Some of the most common activities of software deployment include software release, installation, testing, deployment, and performance monitoring.

Software deployment is all of the activities that make a software system available for use. The general deployment process consists of several interrelated activities with possible transitions between them. These activities can occur at the producer side or at the consumer side or both

Cloud Software Deployment

While many development teams still choose to host applications using on-premises IT infrastructure, cloud service providers like Amazon Web Services (AWS), Google Cloud Platform and Microsoft Azure now offer IT Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) and Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) products that help developers deploy applications into live environments without the additional financial and administrative burden of managing their own storage and virtualization servers.

Software Deployment vs Software Release – What’s the Difference?

For the uninitiated, software deployment and software release may sound like very much the same thing. In fact, these terms describe two separate aspects of the overall software deployment process that should be understood separately.

The Software Release Process Defined

The software release cycle refers to the stages of development for a piece of computer software, whether it is released as a piece of physical media, online, or as a web-based application (SaaS). When a software development team prepares a new software release, it typically includes a specific version of the code and associated resources that have been assigned a version number. When the code is updated or modified with bug fixes, a new version of the code may be packaged with supporting resources and assigned a new release number. Versioning new software releases in this way helps to differentiate between different versions and identify the most up-to-date software release.

What is the Software Deployment Process?

Every organization must develop its own process for software deployment, either basing it on an existing framework of best practices or customizing a process that meets relevant business objectives. Software deployment can be summarized in three general phases: preparation, testing and the deployment itself.

Preparation

In the preparation stage, developers must gather all of the code that will be deployed along with any other libraries, configuration files, or resources needed for the application to function. Together, these items can be packaged as a single software release. Developers should also verify that the host server is correctly configured and running smoothly.

Testing

Before an update can be pushed to the live environment, it should be deployed to a test server where it can be subjected to a pre-configured set of automated tests. Developers should review the results and correct any bugs or errors before deploying the update to the live environment.

Deployment

Once an update has been fully tested, it can be deployed to the live environment. Developers may run a set of scripts to update relevant databases before changes can go live. The final step is to check for bugs or errors that occur on the live server to ensure the best possible customer experience for users interacting with the new update.

Software Deployment Methodologies

DevOps is a methodology and a set of best practices for software development whose primary goals are to shorten delivery times for new software updates while maintaining high quality. In the DevOps framework, there are seven steps in the software development process:

1. Coding
2. Building
3. Testing
4. Packaging
5. Releasing
6. Configuring
7. Monitoring

Software deployment falls into the software releasing step and includes activities such as release coordination, deploying and promoting applications, back-ups & recovery and scheduled or timed releases. DevOps especially emphasizes the use of automation to streamline the software deployment process. DevOps usually incorporates a framework known as Continuous Integration (CI) where new code is integrated into a shared repository by working teams on a regular basis, sometimes even several times per day. Newly integrated code can be tested through an automated build process to support early bug detection and removal, helping to ensure that releases contain only quality code with few or no errors.

Continuous Deployment (CD) describes a software release strategy where new code passes through a battery of automated tests before being automatically released into the production environment where users can interact with it. Continuous deployment works best for software development teams that have invested heavily in automated testing that helps ensure new code is production-ready as it is developed.

Frequent integrations of new code and automated testing are crucial to effective continuous deployment. Developers that use CD also depend on real-time monitoring to help detect performance and operational issues once code has been deployed to the live environment.

Why is Software Deployment Important?

Software deployment is one of the most important aspects of the software development process. Deployment is the mechanism through which applications, modules, updates, and patches are delivered from developers to users. The methods used by developers to build, test and deploy new code will impact how fast a product can respond to changes in customer preferences or requirements and the quality of each change.

Software development teams that streamline the process of building, testing and deploying new code can respond more quickly to customer demand with new updates and deliver new features more frequently to drive customer satisfaction, satisfy user needs and take advantage of economic opportunities.

Some of the advantages to software deployment include:

• Time savings. Software deployment can happen within hours and the process of installation also becomes quicker. The software can be deployed quickly and there is no need of training or learning anything. Different installation options can be used for rapid deployments.
• Enhanced Security. Deployment can configure permission roles to give better control over sensitive or mission-critical group of computers. This offers protection to the computers in the enterprise. Task groups can also be secured by maintaining role’s task based permission sets. Additional security protocols can be applied to mission-critical or sensitive tasks.
• Monitor User Actions. You can gain insight into user activities around the software pretty easily with software deployment. The data can be utilized to perform historical user activity analysis. It ensures everything is in order and the applications are not facing any problem operating.
• Easy and Effective Software Updates. Through software deployment accurate updates, software, maintenance tasks and uninstall can be targeted automatically and computers can be monitored for issues in real-time.

Software deployment activities can occur at either the producer or consumer side. Every software system is unique, so the processes within each activity can ‘t easily be defined. If you have questions or need assistance with your software deployment, give 2W Tech a call today. We are a full-service IT Consulting firm that specializes in Managed Solutions.

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