Web Development

Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC) is a method that clearly defines the processes and tools required to create high-quality software. The SDLC methodology is focused on the following phases: Analysis of requirements Plan System Design Software development Test Implementation   What is the software development cycle? Software Development Life Cycle, also known as SDLC, is a method that creates software at the lowest possible cost and quality in the shortest amount of time. SDLC is a structured flow of phases that allows an organization to produce high-quality software quickly and be ready for production.   How the SDLC works SDLC reduces the cost of software development while improving quality and reducing production times. SDLC achieves these seemingly divergent goals through a plan that eliminates common pitfalls in software development projects. This plan begins by evaluating current systems for any deficiencies. It then defines the requirements for the new system. The software is then created through the following stages: analysis, planning design, development, testing and deployment. SLDC prevents costly errors like not asking the client or end-user for feedback. This allows them to eliminate unnecessary rework and after the deployment fixes. It is important to note that the emphasis on testing is very strong. Because the SDLC is repetitive, it is important to ensure that every cycle of code quality is met. While many organizations spend little time on testing, a strong focus on testing can help them save a lot of time, money, and rework. Make sure you are smart about writing the right types of tests. Let’s now look at the various stages of the Software Development Cycle.   Stages The stages in SDLC will ensure that the process runs smoothly, efficiently, and is productive. 1.Requirement analysis “What problems does the system need to solve?” The process of making a list of all the requirements that the system needs to meet while taking into account all stakeholders’ opinions including customers, programmers, salespeople, and industry professionals. With improvement as the goal and to learn the strengths and weaknesses of your system   2.Planning “What are we looking for?” This stage of the SDLC estimates the costs and resources needed to implement the requirements. This document also outlines the risks involved and offers sub-plans to mitigate those risks. This means that the team must determine whether the project is feasible and how they can execute it with minimal risk.   3.System Design “How can we achieve what we want?” The system design phase converts the software specifications into a design blueprint. The plan is then reviewed by all stakeholders who can offer suggestions and feedback. It is crucial that you have a plan to collect and incorporate stakeholder input into the document. Failing to do so will almost certainly lead to cost overruns and even the complete collapse of the project.   4.Development This is where the actual development begins. Every developer must follow the agreed blueprint. Make sure that you have clear guidelines regarding code style and practices.   5.Testing We test for defects and other deficiencies such as logical errors and bad performance in this stage. These issues are fixed until the product meets all specifications. We want to check if the code meets all the requirements.   6.Implementation This stage is where the goal is to move the software into the production environment. Users can then start using it. Many organizations opt to move the product through multiple environments, such as a staging or testing environment which allows all stakeholders to play with the product safely before it is released to the public and identifying last mistakes.   Additional Software Maintenance We must also update the software as the world changes. Developers now have more responsibility for the development process.

Web cookies are usually compact text files, given ID tags that are saved on your computer’s browser directory or program information subfolders. Cookies are made when you use your browser to visit a website that uses cookies to keep track of your moves within the website, enable you to restart where you left off, remember your registered login, subject choice, preferences, and other customization purposes. The Web Site stores a corresponding document (with the same ID label )to the one they set in your browser,and in this file they can monitor and store information on your moves within the site and any information You Might Have willingly given while visiting the website Cookies are often portrayed as the devil responsible for the fall of privacy, and the sole reason for their existence is to take your data, but that’s actually far from the truth. You should know that without cookies, you could kiss the internet as you know it goodbye. Cookies are responsible for a lot of the functions you need on the internet, such as keeping you logged in (so you wouldn’t have to log in each time you visit a page and it’s also responsible for the shopping cart in e-commerce websites. Let us explain why. Cookie types: The cookies that you hear about all the time are called HTTP cookies and the are two types of them: The first type is called session cookies. Session cookies are as harmless as cookies can be. As the name suggests, Session cookies work only while you’re on the website and disappear as soon as you close it and the data along with it. The second type of cookies is called persistent cookies and these are the ones that stir up all the controversy. The first type of problem with this cookie is that it can stay indefinitely on your browser (however, most of them clear after two weeks). This type of cookie is the one responsible for personally identifying you and collecting data about you such as your browsing patterns. We know this sounds bad; however, a lot of good comes from this type of cookie because, as a rule of thumb, the better a company knows about you, the better they can serve. The problem here comes with collect way too much data than they should or sell your data to other companies; of course not to forget third party cookies, which literally tracks you all over the web   Conclusion Cookies are not inherently evil or a lousy invention, but many companies abused them, but that doesn’t mean that we should blame the cookies. If you like this article, you might also want to check out our article on APIs

Nowadays, we are connected to each other and the world like never before. We are all used to the instant connectivity that puts everything literally at our fingertips from computers or mobile phones. We can purchase anything, share information or search for it and of course, text or call each other and check news using social media.  But how does it work? How seemingly very different applications connect with each other, how is data transferred from different devices and different applications and websites with each other?   What Does API Stand For?  API Stands For Application programming. API interface The reason we can do all of the activities above is the API which stands for Application Programming Interface.  The definition of API is a computing interface that defines interactions between multiple intermediary devices. What that means is that an API provides a set of functions without the user having to worry about how they work.  Think, for example, a waiter in a restaurant. When you order a meal from a restaurant, the waiter writes your order and then goes to the kitchen tells the chef about the order and when it’s done, the waiter comes back with your food.  Here you don’t have to worry about what happens in the kitchen, you don’t have to worry about the food supply or the food getting burnt, but the waiter organizes all of that. The waiter in this example represents the API.  A real-world example would be the weather app on both IOS and Android devices. The weather app on both systems shows the weather anywhere in the world, but neither google nor apple have placed sensors all over the world instead they both partnered with the weather channel which provides them with an API that takes weather info from their database and displays it on your phone.   Uses of APIs System APIs: API is not used for sharing data only. They have a lot of use cases. One case is that app developers don’t have to worry setting up a wifi connection, drawing shapes on your screen or how to talk to the sensors of your device such as your gyroscope (allows your phone to know where it is in space can be used to put phone landscape mode for example) or GPS (to know your location like uber). Instead, the system provides a lot of APIs to simplify all of this. An app just asks the system to do what it needs.  It would be impossible for developers to write code for each function for each model that can use the app, doing so would millions of lines of code and would make any app considerably heavier.   Extend functionality: Smart devices are becoming more and more popular, and APIs are the reason why they exist in the first place. Now you can order your speaker to play music through google assistant, Siri or  Alexa this is possible because the speaker manufacturer took the API of each the assistant and integrated into the speaker so they can speak with each other and in turn allows you to control it via these softwares   A Gatekeeper: When an app asks for your permission to access something like your contacts or location, it doesn’t do so because it wants to but because the system does it for them and there’s no way around it. The system also allows you to revoke this permission anytime if you wish so. Also, a lot of websites use the same concept. You can use your Facebook and google account to login to a lot of websites. It’s fast and convenient however this gives those websites some data from your social media account to make an account for you and can be misused since a lot of these permissions can last for a long time.  This concept is what allowed Cambridge Analytica to collect massive data through the Facebook API. They created a personality quiz which asked for some of your personal info which is fine. However, the permission allowed the app to access your data for months even if you didn’t use it anymore, which allowed Cambridge Analytica to gain massive amounts of data and use it in the trump 2018 election campaign.