Program Development Method

Program Development Method

1.   Specifying and analyzing the problem statement.

2.   Designing an Algorithm

3.   Coding and Implementation

4.   Debugging

5.   Testing and validating

6.   Documentation and maintenance

Specifying and analyzing the problem statement: the problem which has to be implemented into a program must be thoroughly understood before the program is written. Problem must be analyzed to determine the input and output requirements of the program. A problem statement is created with these specifications.

Designing an Algorithm: with the problem statement obtained in the previous step, various methods available for obtaining the required solution are analyzed and the best method is designed into algorithm.

Coding and implementation: the actual problem is written in the required programming language with the help of information depicted in flow charts and algorithms.

Debugging: there is a possibility of occurrence of errors in programs. These errors must be removed to ensure proper working of programs. Hence solving the program without errors is known as debugging.

Types of errors that may occur in the program are:

a)   Syntactic Errors(Compilation Errors): These errors occur due to the usage of wrong syntax for the statements.

b)   Runtime Errors: These errors are determined at the execution time of the program.

c)   Logical Errors: These errors occur due to incorrect usage of the instructions in the program.

Testing and Validating: Testing and Validation is performed to check whether the program is producing correct results or not for different values according to user requirement.

Documentation and Maintenance: Documentation is the process of collecting, organizing and maintaining, in written the complete information of the program for future references. Maintenance is the process of upgrading the program according to the changing requirements.