|
Downstream (software Development)
In software development, downstream refers to a direction away from the original authors or maintainers of software that is distributed as source code, and is a qualification of a patch. For example, a patch ''sent downstream'' is offered to the developers or maintainers of a forked software project. If accepted, the developers or maintainers will include the patch in their software fork, either immediately or in a future release. For contrast, see Upstream (software development), code sent toward the original development team. See also * Upstream (software development) * Backporting * Waterfall software development * Fork (software development) In software engineering, a project fork happens when developers take a copy of source code from one software package and start independent development on it, creating a distinct and separate piece of software. The term often implies not merely ... References Computing terminology Software project management {{comp ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Software Development
Software development is the process of conceiving, specifying, designing, programming, documenting, testing, and bug fixing involved in creating and maintaining applications, frameworks, or other software components. Software development involves writing and maintaining the source code, but in a broader sense, it includes all processes from the conception of the desired software through to the final manifestation of the software, typically in a planned and structured process. Software development also includes research, new development, prototyping, modification, reuse, re-engineering, maintenance, or any other activities that result in software products. Methodologies One system development methodology is not necessarily suitable for use by all projects. Each of the available methodologies are best suited to specific kinds of projects, based on various technical, organizational, project, and team considerations. Software development activities Identification of need The sou ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Software Engineering
Software engineering is a systematic engineering approach to software development. A software engineer is a person who applies the principles of software engineering to design, develop, maintain, test, and evaluate computer software. The term '' programmer'' is sometimes used as a synonym, but may also lack connotations of engineering education or skills. Engineering techniques are used to inform the software development process which involves the definition, implementation, assessment, measurement, management, change, and improvement of the software life cycle process itself. It heavily uses software configuration management which is about systematically controlling changes to the configuration, and maintaining the integrity and traceability of the configuration and code throughout the system life cycle. Modern processes use software versioning. History Beginning in the 1960s, software engineering was seen as its own type of engineering. Additionally, the development of soft ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Maintenance Mode
In the world of software development, maintenance mode refers to a point in a computer program's life when it has reached all of its goals and is generally considered to be "complete" and bug-free. The term can also refer to the point in a software product's evolution when it is no longer competitive with other products or current with regard to the technology environment it operates within. In both cases, continued development is deemed unnecessary or ill-advised, but occasional bug fixes and security patches are still issued, hence the term maintenance mode. Maintenance mode often transitions to abandonware. Sometimes, when a popular free software project undergoes a major overhaul, the pre-overhaul version is kept active and put into maintenance mode because it will still be widely used in production for the foreseeable future. Project forks can also spawn from programs that go into maintenance mode too soon or have enough developer support for a more advanced version. A good e ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Computer Software
Software is a set of computer programs and associated documentation and data. This is in contrast to hardware, from which the system is built and which actually performs the work. At the lowest programming level, executable code consists of machine language instructions supported by an individual processor—typically a central processing unit (CPU) or a graphics processing unit (GPU). Machine language consists of groups of binary values signifying processor instructions that change the state of the computer from its preceding state. For example, an instruction may change the value stored in a particular storage location in the computer—an effect that is not directly observable to the user. An instruction may also invoke one of many input or output operations, for example displaying some text on a computer screen; causing state changes which should be visible to the user. The processor executes the instructions in the order they are provided, unless it is instructed ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Source Code
In computing, source code, or simply code, is any collection of code, with or without comments, written using a human-readable programming language, usually as plain text. The source code of a program is specially designed to facilitate the work of computer programmers, who specify the actions to be performed by a computer mostly by writing source code. The source code is often transformed by an assembler or compiler into binary machine code that can be executed by the computer. The machine code is then available for execution at a later time. Most application software is distributed in a form that includes only executable files. If the source code were included it would be useful to a user, programmer or a system administrator, any of whom might wish to study or modify the program. Alternatively, depending on the technology being used, source code may be interpreted and executed directly. Definitions Richard Stallman's definition, formulated in his 1989 seminal li ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Patch (Unix)
The computer tool patch is a Unix program that updates text files according to instructions contained in a separate file, called a ''patch file''. The patch file (also called a ''patch'' for short) is a text file that consists of a list of differences and is produced by running the related diff program with the original and updated file as arguments. Updating files with patch is often referred to as ''applying the patch'' or simply ''patching'' the files. History The original patch program was written by Larry Wall (who went on to create the Perl programming language) and posted to mod.sources (which later became comp.sources.unix) in May 1985. A variant of the program (but not the only one) is part of the GNU project and is maintained by the FSF. Usage context Developed by a programmer for other programmers, patch was frequently used for updating source code to a newer version. Because of this, many people came to associate patches with source code, whereas patches can in fact b ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fork (software Development)
In software engineering, a project fork happens when developers take a copy of source code from one software package and start independent development on it, creating a distinct and separate piece of software. The term often implies not merely a development branch, but also a split in the developer community; as such, it is a form of schism. Grounds for forking are varying user preferences and stagnated or discontinued development of the original software. Free and open-source software is that which, by definition, may be forked from the original development team without prior permission, and without violating copyright law. However, licensed forks of proprietary software (''e.g.'' Unix) also happen. Etymology The word "fork" has been used to mean "to divide in branches, go separate ways" as early as the 14th century. In the software environment, the word evokes the fork system call, which causes a running process to split itself into two (almost) identical copies that (ty ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Software Release Life Cycle
A software release life cycle is the sum of the stages of development and maturity for a piece of computer software ranging from its initial development to its eventual release, and including updated versions of the released version to help improve the software or fix software bugs still present in the software. There are several models for such a life cycle. A common method is that suggested by Microsoft, which divides software development into five phases: Pre-alpha, Alpha, Beta, Release candidate, and Stable. Pre-alpha refers to all activities performed during the software project before formal testing. The alpha phase generally begins when the software is feature complete but likely to contain several known or unknown bugs. The beta phase generally begins when the software is deemed feature complete, yet likely to contain several known or unknown bugs. Software in the production phase will generally have many more bugs in it than completed software, as well as speed/performan ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Upstream (software Development)
In software development, when software has been forked or uses a chain of libraries/ dependencies, upstream refers to an issue that occurs in software farther up the chain. It is the direction that is toward the original authors or maintainers of software. It is usually used in the context of a version, a bug, or a patch. Upstream development allows other distributions to benefit from it when they pick up the future release or merge recent (or all) upstream patches. Likewise, the original authors (maintaining upstream) can benefit from contributions that originate from custom distributions, if their users send patches upstream. The term also pertains to bugs; responsibility for a bug is said to lie upstream when it is not caused through the distribution's porting, non-upstream modification or integration efforts. Examples * A patch ''sent upstream'' is offered to the original authors or maintainers of the software. If accepted, the authors or maintainers will include the pat ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Backporting
Backporting is the action of taking parts from a newer version of a software system or software component and porting them to an older version of the same software. It forms part of the maintenance step in a software development process, and it is commonly used for fixing security issues in older versions of the software and also for providing new features to older versions. Overview The simplest and probably most common situation of backporting is a fixed security hole in a newer version of a piece of software. Consider this simplified example: * Software v2.0 had a security vulnerability that is fixed by changing the text 'is_unsecured' to 'is_secured'. * The same security hole exists in Software v1.0, from which the codebase for the newer version is derived, but there the text may read 'is_notsecure'. By taking the modification that fixes Software v2.0 and changing it so that it applies to Software v1.0, one has effectively backported the fix. In real-life situations, the mod ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Waterfall Software Development
The waterfall model is a breakdown of project activities into linear sequential phases, meaning they are passed down onto each other, where each phase depends on the deliverables of the previous one and corresponds to a specialization of tasks. The approach is typical for certain areas of engineering design. In software development, it tends to be among the less iterative and flexible approaches, as progress flows in largely one direction ("downwards" like a waterfall) through the phases of conception, initiation, analysis, design, construction, testing, deployment and maintenance. The waterfall development model originated in the manufacturing and construction industries, where the highly structured physical environments meant that design changes became prohibitively expensive much sooner in the development process. When first adopted for software development, there were no recognised alternatives for knowledge-based creative work. History The first known presentation describ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Computing Terminology
Computing is any goal-oriented activity requiring, benefiting from, or creating computing machinery. It includes the study and experimentation of algorithmic processes, and development of both hardware and software. Computing has scientific, engineering, mathematical, technological and social aspects. Major computing disciplines include computer engineering, computer science, cybersecurity, data science, information systems, information technology and software engineering. The term "computing" is also synonymous with counting and calculating. In earlier times, it was used in reference to the action performed by mechanical computing machines, and before that, to human computers. History The history of computing is longer than the history of computing hardware and includes the history of methods intended for pen and paper (or for chalk and slate) with or without the aid of tables. Computing is intimately tied to the representation of numbers, though mathematical concep ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
.svg "Click for more on -> Computer Software")
