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2. Creating a computer system

A key part of any computer system is the software that runs on it.

Much of this software is bespoke (custom made) and can run to thousands or even millions of lines of code.

It is common to have whole teams of people employed to write code. This needs organisation and discipline.

And for this to happen there needs to be software development standards.

Software development standards have been developed over the years that offer :-

 

  • A way of capturing what the system needs to do
  • Ways of breaking up the system into manageable chunks
  • Ways of keeping track of changes
  • Ways of allocating staff
  • Ways of finding and correcting errors (debugging)
  • Ways of planning and carrying out tests

There are many development methods available. Some of which are described on the next page.

 

Challenge see if you can find out one extra fact on this topic that we haven't already told you

Click on this link: software engineering