What is software?

 

Definition: The programs, routines and symbolic languages that control the functioning of the hardware and direct its operations. It can perform specific or multiple tasks and is like blood in human body.

Software can be of three types:

1-Application Software

2-System Software

3-Programming software

 

Software Product Development

 

Software product development is a structure imposed on the development of a software product. Synonyms include software development life cycle and software development process.

 

The software development lifecycle involves mainly six stages.

1. Requirement Stage

                                                                      2. Analysis Stage3. Design Stage

4. Construction Stage

  5. Testing Stage (QA)

                                                                       6. Deployment Stage

 

1. Requirement Stage: First of all we have to determine the requirements to be met by system being contemplated and arrive at a consensus after a thorough discussion among managers. Then comes the Software Requirement Specification or the SRS Document. SRS means to draw up understandable plan of what the system will provide as outputs. User’s requirements are found out through discussion and specification is drawn up and documented. The different applications of the software are to be prioritized and the one with the highest priority is to be selected for the implementation of the software.

 

2. Analysis Stage: In this stage, first a feasibility analysis is required to be conducted. We need to assess the resources that are required to carry out the project in terms of- Equipments, Manpower and funds.

We also need to assess whether the benefits we are going to derive from the software covers all the cost that we are going to incur to develop it. It is called the cost-benefit analysis. Then we need to draw up the final specifications of the software as to what exactly the software will deliver as output. SRS is Written-Delivered-Agreed upon.

 

3. Design Stage: After collecting the necessary hardware and software required to carry out the project, we will proceed towards preparing a logical design of the system. The design is nothing but a blueprint of the future software that is going to be developed. In this stage, we also need to create a database for the system using which the software we are going to develop will answer our queries. The last step of the design stage is to draw up the final technical specifications of the software development project.

 

4. Construction Stage: This is the most important stage of the software development life cycle where the actual construction of the software takes place. An implementation plan is written as per the technical specifications of the software that were finalized in the design stage and accordingly the software is developed by the engineers with the help of various programming languages. A software is developed in a phase by phase manner and there are various models available for the development of the software. The model which best suits the requirements is supposed to be adopted.

 

5. Testing Stage (QA): Once the software is developed, it is handed over to the Quality Assurance department for testing. The testing engineers check the software thoroughly to determine if the software is functioning as per the requirements. For software testing there are two methods available- Manual Testing and Automated Testing. Once testing is over, the software is sent for a trial run. Based on the results of the trial run, the final evaluations of the software are done.

 

6. Deployment Stage: This is the sixth and the final; stage of the software development life cycle. The software is delivered to the client and is also installed at the client location. Necessary customizations are made as per the requirements of the client. The workforce of the client or the users are trained to work efficiently on the software. The deployment stage also involves the maintenance or the post delivery technical support. It is provided by the developer as per the service contract which is a part of the SRS Document.

 

Software development models

 

Waterfall Model

It is the most widely used model. It is very systematic and easy to plan. In the waterfall model the activities are executed one after another and in fully sequential manner. An activity starts only when its preceding activity is done. Here faults can be found immediately and thus time and money are saved. This model is used by US Department of defense, NASA and many large government agencies in the US and elsewhere.

 

Spiral Model

This model combines the features of the prototyping model and waterfall model. It is most often used in large projects. It was used by the US army to develop the Future Combat System. The estimates in this model are more realistic. In the first stage the system requirements are defined and a preliminary design is created. A prototype is created based on the preliminary design. A second prototype is evolved by a four fold process. Then more prototypes are added if necessary. A fixed system is constructed and is sent for testing.

 

Chaos Model

The Chaos Model extends the Spiral model and Waterfall model. In chaos model the phases of the life cycle apply to all levels of projects.

1.     The whole project must be defined, implemented, and integrated.

2.     Systems must be defined, implemented, and integrated.

3.     Modules must be defined, implemented, and integrated.

4.     Functions must be defined, implemented, and integrated.

5.     Lines of code are defined, implemented and integrated.

A complex software emerges from the combination of smaller building blocks.

 

 

 

Top-down and Bottom-up models

Top down emphasizes on planning and a complete understanding of the system. It is more time consuming and less risky. It involves traditional procedural languages. Bottom up emphasizes on coding and early testing. It is less time consuming and more risky. It involves object oriented languages such as C++ and Java. Modern software design approaches usually combine both the models.

 

Unified Model

It is an iterative and incremental development process. Organizations utilizing unified process invariably incorporate their own modifications and extensions viz. Agile unified process, Basic unified process, Essential unified process, Open unified process, Enterprise unified process, Rational unified process. The various stages involved are-     

 (1)Inception Stage         (2)Elaboration Stage

                                                    (3)Construction Stage    (4)Transition Stage

 

Prototyping Model

Prototyping is the process of quickly putting together a working model (a prototype) in order to test various aspects of a design, illustrate ideas or features and gather early user feedback. Prototyping is often treated as an integral part of the system design process, where it is believed to reduce project risk and cost. Often one or more prototypes are made in a process of iterative and incremental development where each prototype is influenced by the performance of previous designs, in this way problems or deficiencies in design can be corrected. When the prototype is sufficiently refined and meets the functionality, robustness, manufacturability and other design goals, the product is ready for production.

 

Conclusion

Software product development is a release-based process, which implies several versions of the product exist at any given time. It is imperative for management to determine the status of each product, the direction of progress, and the final destination.

 

 

If you have PC in your home then that must be protected first from the attacks of malicious software. System can get infected by Viruses, worms, Trojans and spyware at any time. These programs can come from different sources like downloaded infected files, email attachments, infected pen drives or CDs etc.

There are lots of Anti virus software available in market today, and all claims to be very much effective and providing 100% protection. Before you choose any Anti virus solution first find out the system requirement. Then you can decide which brand provides all those features. These are some key features of leading anti virus software available in market.      

Avira AntiVir Personal 9.0

Avira AntiVir Personal is a reliable free antivirus that helps you to protect and monitor your PC. It regularly scans the system for viruses, Trojans, backdoor programs, hoaxes, worms, dialers etc. It monitors every action executed by the user or by the operating system, and react promptly when a malicious program is detected.

Its scanner search for all known types of virus and malware, and continuously monitors all file access attempts. If any suspicious file is found then it is quarantined immediately. Avira AntiVir Personal provides Rootkit protection for detecting hidden malware installed in the computer system. Detailed information on the detected viruses and malware is provided via the Internet.

Its Integrated Scheduler helps to plan recurring tasks, such as updates or test runs. Innovative search technologies and heuristic search processes helps in very high rates of virus and malware detection. Avira AntiVir Personal is able to detect all common archive types, including detection of nested archives and smart extensions.

AVG Free Edition 8.5

AVG Free Edition gives reliable protection against computer viruses, for which millions of users around the world trust AVG. AVG Free Edition is available free of cost to home users for the life of the product. Its virus database updates automatically, and provides a high-level of virus detection capability. It is easy-to-use and requires very low system resources during scanning. So, it will not slow down your system.

AVG Free Edition provides real-time protection as files are opened and programs are run. It fantastically handles the infected files. AVG Free Edition also allows the user to perform scheduled and manual tests.

Norton AntiVirus 2010

Norton AntiVirus 2010 removes viruses, worms, spyware, bots and Trojan horses automatically without interrupting your work. It is the fastest and lightest malware scanner available in market. This application scans faster and uses less memory than any other antivirus product. It scans only those files and processes that are at risk using Norton Insight. Norton AntiVirus includes intrusion detection to detect malicious code.

Norton AntiVirus provides continuous protection updates and new product features as they become available throughout your product subscription period, helping to keep your computer protected against the latest Internet threats and risks. Norton AntiVirus 2010 provides performance information to the user as well as guidance about security threats. It blocks Internet threats before they can infect your PC, and prevents virus-infected emails and instant messages from spreading.

Norton AntiVirus uses multilayered security through the Norton Protection System which detects and automatically removes malicious threats.

ESET NOD32 Antivirus 4.0

NOD32 Antivirus system provides full protection against threats endangering PCs and enterprise systems. Its search engine based on ThreatSense technology, analyzes code to identify malicious behavior, such as viruses, spyware, adware, phishing and more. Advanced detection methods implemented in this software provide protection against the future threats from most of the new worms and viruses.

NOD32's detection efficiency is combined with 2-50 times faster hard disk scanning rate. And it requires less memory and CPU power for scanning. NOD32 has won maximum number of Virus Bulletin 100% Awards than any competing product.

NOD32 Protects at multiple infiltration points, including HTTP, POP3, SMTP and all local and removable media. It also prevents infected files from being opened and executed, and warns on creation of infected files. Its powerful virtual PC emulation technology enables unpacking and decryption of all types of archives and run-time packing.

Kaspersky Anti-Virus Personal 2010

Kaspersky Anti-Virus is a useful antivirus tool providing all types of anti virus protection such as: anti-virus scanners, monitors, behavior blockers and integrity checkers. It works as a backbone of the PC's security system, and offers protection from a range of IT threats. Kaspersky Anti-Virus scans operating system and other installed applications to find malicious software. It detects viruses based on the packers used to compress code.

If your system is infected then also Kaspersky Anti-Virus can be installed. And it will restore all system settings after removing malicious software. For extra protection, you can create a rescue disk.

Kaspersky Anti-Virus provides lots of features to protect the internet users. It scans all email messages before you open in your computer. Also Protects from the dangers arising from instant messengers. It analyzes and closes Internet Explorer vulnerabilities.

This is an alternate for word document object using the System.IO.Packaging in VS.NET 2005.

You can able to create, open a document using XML and make any type of changes there, just like you do word object (letterApp = new Word.ApplicationClass ();)

Just add the reference to windowsbase.dll from directory "c:\Program Files\Reference Assemblies\Microsoft".

This will work only for MS Word 2007. It does not support backward compatability.

Open a C# project, add the reference to windowsbase.dll and the create new form and place the below code. pass the file (created in word 2007 extension should be .docx) , search string and replacement string. Try to run the application the old text will be replaced by the new one.

 

 private bool SearchDocx(string strfile, string searchFor,string strReplace)
        {                 

            try
            {
                using (Package myPackage = Package.Open(strfile, FileMode.Open, FileAccess.ReadWrite))
                {
                   
                        PackagePart documentPart = null;

                        const string documentRelationshipType =
                            "http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/officeDocument/2006/relationships/officeDocument";

                        foreach (PackageRelationship relationship in myPackage.GetRelationshipsByType(documentRelationshipType))
                        {
                            documentPart = myPackage.GetPart(PackUriHelper.ResolvePartUri(new Uri("/", UriKind.Relative), relationship.TargetUri));
                            break;
                        }
                   
                        XmlDocument doc = new XmlDocument();
                        doc.Load(documentPart.GetStream());
                        XmlNamespaceManager nsmgr = new XmlNamespaceManager(doc.NameTable);
                        nsmgr.AddNamespace("w", "http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/wordprocessingml/2006/main");

                        string StrQuery = "//w:t[text()='" + searchFor + "']";

                        bool bolReplace=false;

                        foreach (XmlNode sdtNode in doc.SelectNodes(StrQuery, nsmgr))
                        {
                            sdtNode.InnerText = strReplace;
                            bolReplace = true;
                        }
                        documentPart.GetStream().Seek(0, SeekOrigin.Begin);
                        documentPart.GetStream().SetLength(0);
                        doc.Save(documentPart.GetStream());

                        if (bolReplace == false)
                        { return false; }
                        else
                        { return true; }

                }
            }
            catch
            {
                MessageBox.Show("Could not Open file: " + strfile);
                return false;
            }
        }

Thanks.

 

Software Application: Software may be applied in many situations for which a prespecified set of procedural steps has been defined.

The following software area indicate breadth of potential applications.

A) System Software: System Software is a collection of program written to service other program.

e.g compilers, editors and file management utilies. Operating system components,drivers,telecom processors.

B )Real Time Software: Program that monitor/analyza/control real world events as they occur are called real time software. Elements of real-time software including a data gathering component that collect & formats information from an external enviornment, an analysis component that transforms information as required by the application, a component that coordinates all other component so that real time response can be maintained.

C) Business Software: Business information processing is the largest single software application area. Discrete "System" (e.g payroll,account,inventory etc) have evolved into management information system software that access one or more large databases containing business informations.

D) Engineering and Scientific Software: Enginerring and scientific software has been characterised by number cruching algorithms.

e.g Computer-Aided Design,Computer- Aided manufacturing, System simulations etc.

E) Embedded Software: Intelligent product have become commonplace in really every consumer and industrial market. Embedded software engineering resides in read-only memory and is used to control products and systems for the consumer and industrial markets. Embadded software engineering can perform very limited and esoteric functions or provide significant function and control capability.

e.g : Fuel control dashboard displays, breking systems.

F) Personal Computer Software: The PC software market has burgeoned over past decade. Word processing spreadsheets, multimedia, games, database management etc. are only few hundreds of applications.

Characteristics of a software:

1) Software is a loginal rather than a physical system elements. therefore, its  charecteristics  deffers from those of hardwares.

2) Software is a develop or engineer, it is not manufacture in the classical sence.

3) Software does not "wear'out".

4) Most software is custom build ( i.e as per requirement of users/ industry), rather then being assembled from existing component.