Marquice Page

2-8-19

Bemidji State University

Software Development
 Table Of Contents:

Introduction​……………………………………………………….pg 3

Executive summary​……………………………………………….pg 4

Main Section​ ……………………………………….​pg 6

Rhetorical practices​………………………………………………..pg 6
Communication​…………………………………………………………..pg 6
Problem descriptions​……………………………………………….…pgs 6 - 7
Comments​………………………………………………………….pgs 7 - 8

Research standards​ ……………………………………………….Pg 9

Documentation design​……………………………………………………...Pg9
Citation Style​……………………………………………………………..Pg9
References​………………………………………………………….Pg10
 Introduction
In this report I will show you the responsibilities as well as the communication skills that are
necessary for a software developer. Depending on the company, Software development requires
different people that you have to communicate to however, one must understand the nature of the
software development field in order to understand all of the people that we potentially have to
communicate with. In shor software developers “​ research, design, develop, and test operating
systems-level software, compilers, and network distribution software for medical, industrial,
military, communications, aerospace, business, scientific, and general computing
applications.”(OwlGuru 1). This report will explain all of the potential communication we will
need to do in the software development industry as well as some of the legal and ethical
guidelines that one must follow.
 Executive Summary
Communication is key in the software industry because more often times than not, we are
working in teams. Since we are working in teams, we will need good oral communication skills
in order to fully communicate the ideas we are thinking for the project that we are assigned to.
In the software community, we work in a world of incomplete, imperfect information because
coding is a bunch of languages that can literally do anything when it comes to computers. Some
of the ways we communicate with each other is through comments that we put inside of our code
file. A comment is phrase in code that will not be executed in the program. Since comments will
not be executed in the code, software developers often use this to write explanations of what the
code does.

Some of the other ramifications for communicating in the software industry include emailing and
through secure servers. A secure server is an internet server that encrypts confidential
information supplied by visitors to web pages, thus protecting confidentiality. This is where
software developers often share files that store their code. It is important to do so on a secure file
because we do not want anyone stealing our code. The main ethical issue for software developers
is software piracy. Software piracy is ​a term used to describe the act of illegally using, copying
or distributing​ ​software​ ​without ownership or legal rights. ... Copying that software to multiple
computers or sharing it with your friend without multiple licenses is considered software piracy,
which is illegal​. This is important because it means that all code you write for the company must
be confidential and cannot be shared with anyone. The main consequences of software piracy
“​directly affect the profitability of the software industry. Because of the money lost to pirates,
publishers have fewer resources to devote to research and development of new products, have
less revenue to justify lowering software prices and are forced to pass these costs on to their
customers. Consequently, software publishers, developers, and vendors are taking serious
actions to protect their revenues”(SIIA IP Protection 1).

Some of the research that software developers conduct involve math and how to use math to
make more effective code. The format for the research includes a title page, an abstract, a list of
keywords,a reference page, an introduction and a table of contents as well as the main content of
the research paper. I am not sure how the paper is formatted academically but the references are
in numbered lists.
Some key takeaways for this report are that software developers need great oral communication
skills to work in teams, commenting on our code is one of the more effective way software
developers communicate with each other on the project at hand, All coding that we do for the
company must stay within the company at all costs due to confidentiality so we do not commit
software piracy.
 Main Section

Rhetorical Practices:

Communication:

To understand how people communicate in the software industry, one must understand what the
software engineer does. As a software developer you will be faced with the following tasks that
require communication:

● Analyze what the user needs, and design and create software to meet those needs
● Recommend software upgrades for the customers' existing programs and materials
● Collaborate with other software developers to create optimum software

These areas in software development require you to communicate either with clients or other
computer specialists.

Communication is key for “Analyzing what the user needs and creating software to meet those
needs. In software development you might receive a written project request that will require you
to write code that will need to satisfy customer needs. This will require some form of
understanding for writing.

Problem descriptions:

Problem descriptions are the way you will receive information on the project that you will need
to complete. Problem descriptions are broken into 3 parts:
 ● A problem statement
● Requirements
● Goals and purpose

In the problem statement, the client will more or less tell you what they want in a program. The
reports are usually generated upon a request via phone or email and are stored into databases.
The report is represented in the database by user input parameters and other information related
to the report so that it can be requested by said user.

In the requirements section of the problem description one would generally list the additional
requirements for the program to be completed. The type of programming language, the scale of
the versatility of the program and some of the security requirements of the program are described
here.

In the goals and purpose portion of the problem reports tells the user a more in detail version of
the problem statement. This gives the developer an idea of how the client will use the program
that he writes and allows him to test different inputs as the developer and will help him
understand the code that he is writing in a better way.

Comments:
A comment is program text that the computer ignores when executing the program that the
programmer created. This text incorporates important information that the programmer needs to
know about his or her code, in case they might need it for later use. There are two type of
comments one can make on their code, an end of line comment and a multi line comment. This
lab report section emphasizes on both types of comments and how they are crucial to writing
code.

""" this program calculates the cost per square inch of a pizza given its
diameter and price
"""
import math #you need pi

di = int(input("what is the diameter of the pizza? ")) # allows the user to input a number and stores it into variable di
price = int(input("how much does the pizza cost? $")) # allows the user to input a number and stores it into variable
price

area = math.pi * (0.5 * di) ** 2 # formula for area

rate = round(area / price,2) # calculates the rate of its price per dollar amount
print('your pizza cost $',rate,'per square inch of pizza') # prints the result of the variable rate

"""

Input(s) : Output(s)
10
10 your pizza cost $ 7.85 per square inch of pizza

1
1 your pizza cost $ 0.79 per square inch of pizza
"""

The triple quotation marks (“””) indicate a multi- line comment and the hashtag (#) indicates a
single line comment. The first thing I stated in the program is what it was designed to do which
was to calculate the cost per square inch of a pizza given its diameter and price. Then I go to
explain what each attributes of how the program works through end of line comments. At the end
of the program I put some of the inputs and outputs of the program that occured when I ran the
program. This goes to show you how important commenting on code is in the software
development industry. Without commenting, other software developers would have a hard time
figuring out what this program did thus, is a very crucial skill in software development.
Research Standards:
In software development we normally develop research that is based on mathematics and how
we can apply them in our programs. Generally our research is very direct and straightforward,
but the application of our research is very flexible. When we publish research in our field, we
follow a specific format.

Documentation style:
All publications in software development have these categories in their papers:

● Abstract
● Introduction
● Related work
● The main body
● Conclusion

In the abstract one must give a brief overview on what they are researching and how they came across the
problem. In the introduction you are going to introduce your topic and what it relates to and how you
solved your problem. Related work gives the reader a sort of reference list of required prior knowledge in
regards to the paper. The main body is well… the main body of the paper and where you will go into
more detail about what you are researching. The conclusion shows the results of your research and how it
can be applied in software development.

Citation Style:
Software developers usually follow the same citation principles of the science and engineering
disciplines. The sciences and engineering disciplines do not all follow one citation nor one
writing style, meaning we mostly use APA formatting style.
References:
Anders, Nilsson, and Klas Fahlberg. “A Complete Software Development Process of a General
Report Publication Service Implemented Using Web Services.” ​A Complete Software
Development Process of a General Report Publication Service Implemented Using Web
Services,​ 1 Feb. 2008.
Anderson, Bergamini de Neira, et al. “Characterizing the Hyperspecialists in the Context of
Crowdsourcing Software Development.” ​Login​, 2004,
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“Being A Software Developer: What You Really Do.” ​OwlGuru.com - Find A Career and College
That Suits You,​
www.owlguru.com/career/software-developers-systems-software/job-description/.
“CollegeGrad.” ​Jobs, Career, Salary and Education Information - CollegeGrad.com​,
collegegrad.com/careers/software-developers.
Kumar, Shreya. “Communication Patterns and Strategies in Software Development
Communities of Practice.” ​Digital Commons @ Michigan Tech,​ 2016,
digitalcommons.mtu.edu/etdr/186/.
Lambert, Kenneth A., and Martin Osborne. ​Fundamentals of Python: First Programs.​ Cengage,
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Ousterhout, John. “ Always Measure One Level Deeper.” ​Login,​
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