Your custom software development glossary — demystifying the terminology

This article originally appeared on the Findan Software blog.

The custom software development space is full of industry terminology and abbreviations. From Front-End Development to UX, it’s easy for individuals who are new to the field to find themselves lost. At Findan Software, we believe in demystifying our industry and empowering people to talk about custom software with confidence.

In this blog post, we’re breaking down some of our industry’s most commonly used terms. This is your handy custom software development glossary.

Agile Development: Agile refers to a project management approach. In other words, how your project will be structured. In agile, development is collaborative, requiring critical involvement on both the client and developer sides. Phases are broken down into short sprints where particular deliverables are completed. Multiple deliverables can be worked on at once.

API: This stands for Application Programming Interface. It is a structured way for one application to offer services to another application. Think of an API like a drive-thru at your favourite fast food chain. When you, the customer, approach the window, all you know is that you want a hamburger, so that’s what you order. You don’t care how the hamburger is made or what steps the fast food chain takes to put the burger together behind the scenes, you just want the sandwich handed to you through the window. In this example, the fast food chain is the API, the drive-thru window is the interface, the customer is the application requesting the data from the API, and the burger is the data.

Back-End Development: This is the ‘server-side’ of development where the emphasis is on databases, logic and the integration required for an app to do what it needs to do.?

Cloud Computing: This is simply computing resources that are delivered over the internet. Your developer may use cloud computing for on-demand access to storage, databases, applications and more.?

Deployment: This refers to the rollout of a software application for use. A software app can be made available locally, such as on a specific device, or can be made available on a server accessed via the internet.

Front-End Development: Remember back-end development? Well, this is the opposite. Front-end development focuses on the user side of the application and includes considerations like the user interface (UI) and user experience (UX) — more on these later.

Maintenance and Support: This one is pretty straightforward! After deployment, your developer may offer maintenance and support to provide updates, fix bugs, provide technical assistance and generally ensure your app runs smoothly.

MVP (Minimum Viable Product): This refers to finding the fastest route to a functional, basic version of your app. The MVP version of your app will have minimal features, as the goal is to gather user feedback and see if the concept is viable before investing too heavily in full-scale development.

QA (Quality Assurance): This refers to testing and reviewing to ensure that your custom software meets the agreed-upon requirements. The goal is to provide you with a reliable product that functions appropriately.

RC (Release Candidate): Release candidate refers to the version of your software that is very nearly final. By the time we reach this stage, many kinks and bugs have been worked out, and we’re in the evaluation and testing phase ahead of the final release.

Repository: This refers to a centralized space where developers store, organize and manage source code, enabling collaboration and the ability for developers across the team to track and review changes.?

RTM (Release-to-Manufacture): Once you reach the RTM phase, your software is in its final form and is considered complete. It has been tested and has been shown to be stable and to meet all of the requirements for deployment. It is ready for distribution to end-users, and development has officially ended.

Scalability: This refers to how a software application can ‘scale up’ to handle an increase in users or its workload without compromising the app’s stability or performance. How scalable your app is will depend on your goals and needs.

UI (User Interface): This refers to the visual appearance and interactive nature of your software application. The UI includes the look, layout, buttons, and various elements that end users will interact with.

UX (User Experience): Where UI focuses on aesthetics, the UX refers to things like ease of use, functionality and efficiency. Essentially, what experience does the end user have with your software application?

Waterfall: Waterfall is another project management approach. In contrast to agile, waterfall is linear and sequential. Phases move forward top-down with little ability to be dynamic and return to previous phases should new information become available. It follows a well-defined set of phases and is less nimble than agile. For the record, our favoured approach is somewhere between agile and waterfall.

Wireframe: This is a visual representation showcasing the content and structure of your application’s UI. In short, it’s a mockup. From there, based on feedback, your visual design is further developed and applied.

Whether you have lots of experience with custom software development or are totally new to the field, Findan Software can support you with your software needs. We meet our clients where they’re at to ensure we’re communicating in a way that is clear, effective and useful. Ultimately, we want folks to be able to make informed decisions about their needs and not to feel daunted by technical discussions and the complexity of the industry. Hopefully, this glossary serves as a valuable starting point!

If you’re wondering how custom software can help you and your organization, please get in touch, and we can explore the possibilities together. Findan Software is headquartered in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, and serves clients throughout North America.