Introduction

If the 18th and 19th century was all about the industrial revolution, we can say without a tint of doubt that the 21st century has been dictated by the software revolution, and will be so until some other alien phenomenon arrives on the planet. (We don’t hope for it, though).

The software revolution’s trajectory is similar to the Industrial Revolution, albeit way faster. George Gilder, a famous American investor, and the author has called today’s software cloud data centers “information factories.”  

And millions of people are working in these factories. And millions more are pursuing the field of software development. Today, the software is the solution to every new problem that arises- it’s raining outside and you have no food? There’s an app for that. Need to split a bill among your friends? There’s another app.

Need to group raw data and derive results? Oh, we have Excel. There’s even an app today to wake you up in case you’re unaffected by alarm clocks. (We’re not kidding!)

For people who’re not that familiar with the technology, all of this might seem like magic. But for people who are building this software, it’s a process.

And in this article, we’ll delve deep into that process. How software is developed exactly? What all goes into it? How many people contribute to building software that is used by billions around the world? Can you also develop one?

Let’s get started:

What is Software?

We’ve all studied the definition of a computer may be in our primaries. “A computer is an electronic device that takes input and gives the desired output”

But, what’s this input? Moreover, how does the computer understand this input?

And for that exact reason, we have software. Software is a set of instructions that tells the computer what to do. It’s in the form of binary code 0s and 1s which is an executable file that the computer understands.

It is a non-physical entity that can be stored on a computer's hard drive or other storage media. Software can range from simple programs such as a calculator or text editor to complex systems like operating systems, databases, and games.

Let's look at an example to better understand this: Assume you're generating a document in MS-word; Ms-word is the software, and we offer input from the keyboard; the computer processes the data and displays the results on the screen. Now you understand how a computer accepts data, processes it, and outputs results, but for this specific operation, writing a paper, we require software such as Microsoft Word.

So, do we have to write the software in a binary language? That would be quite tedious, isn’t it? That’s why various programming languages were developed that you hear of such as Java, Python, JavaScript, C, C++, etc. to write these programs.

The software industry is constantly evolving, producing new and improved programs to meet the changing needs of users. The development and maintenance of software require the expertise of software engineers and developers.

Why do we need to develop software?

Software is developed to solve problems, automate processes, and provide a user-friendly interface for users to interact with computers, devices, and systems.

The development of software is driven by the need for innovation and the desire to improve the way people live, work, and communicate.

Companies use software to streamline processes, increase productivity and remain competitive in their respective markets.

Today, it’s a key factor in the advancement of technology and helps to shape the future.

Now that we’ve gotten a decent idea of what software is, let’s get right into the heart of the subject and understand how it is developed.

How is a software developed?

In a nutshell:

Any program that is written in a human-readable language is termed source code, and this source code is transformed into an executable file using the compilation process. As illustrated in the figure below, it’s an example of a basic C program source code being converted into the software.