Tech

Best Practices for Developing Software Solutions

Implementing best practices while developing any software is a necessary phase of the software development process. Whether you need software solutions that are small or complex, using software development best practices will streamline the development process.

Many software is developed with the help of outdated techniques. These projects will sooner or later require updates. So, when someone else is appointed to take care of your existing software, they can easily maintain it, if the project is developed using best practices.

Here, we will see some primary best practices for unique software development or other project development. Implementing these practices for development will contribute to making your software according to proper standards. Let’s begin then!

Why are software development best practices essential to implement?

Here are 5 major reasons to implement best practices while developing any software:

It helps developers to minimize the errors in the project
Customers get delivered with high-quality projects
Cost-effective software development
On-time delivery of the project
Enhanced security of the software

There are many reasons other than those mentioned above that signal towards using best practices for software development. So, let’s move forward and learn more about some important best practices for software development.

1# Keep the code simple and easy to understand

Simple and organized is the new key. The simpler and more structured the code, the easier it gets to manage it. Simplicity in your code will definitely reduce the project’s complexity.

There are two different techniques that will help you in making the code simple and easy. DRY and YAGNI are the two important techniques that one can follow for easy code writing.

DRY means Don’t Repeat Yourself. You should avoid duplication in the code that has specific functionalities and appears only once in the app. However, code duplication is acceptable up to a certain limit. So, don’t worry that each line of code should be unique.

YAGNI means You Ain’t Gonna Need It. Following this technique, you should avoid writing code you do not need now. When needed in the future, you can keep the code handy. So, that decreases the load time of the code at that time.

2# Define the requirements clearly

Software development process can be different. But this best practice is a must to follow for every team member while developing a project. One such best practice is to prepare a software requirement specification document (SRSD); which has details regarding the software design specifications based on the requirements of that project.

SRSD of the project should include the following details in it to make the requirements clear for developers:

Software design
Decisions
Design diagrams
Constraint, if any

If the SRSD is made clear and up to the mark, then each team member can clearly find their tasks. Also, the project demands are made 100% clear when a proper SRSD is made.

3# Work in a team and not alone

There was a time when developers used to handle everything independently. But the time has changed now. Managing different things alone can be really hard. Instead having a whole team working on developing a single project is quite easy.

Following this best practice can ultimately help the developers to focus on the core development of the software; while other team members will look after their allocated tasks. Front-end development will be managed by front-end developers, similarly to back-end, while the management is done by the project manager and team.

It’s like a complex business cannot be successful without a whole team working behind it, similarly, successful software development also requires a whole team to work tirelessly for designing, development, testing, and maintenance process.

4# Have a backup plan

Changing and experimenting the things as you proceed forward with the project is a good way to develop your project. Sometimes it may happen that experimenting can take your code in the wrong direction. So, keep a backup plan ready for this situation.

To avoid such circumstances, one has to commit to their work regularly and more often. This practice will help you rewind to the place where your code worked perfectly fine.

This best practice is widely not appreciated well until developers feel that it was too late to not follow this practice. If you do not perform ‘commit’, you will definitely sometimes lose your days or months of coding output in just one go. So, try to implement this best practice and always have a working backup of your software.

5# Version Control

Version Control is the best practice that is implemented for managing and tracking the changes happening in the software code. It is very crucial to follow version control when a team of developers is coding on similar software.

With version control best practices, new bug fixes and features can be done simultaneously. And the chances of developers working on someone else’s code also minimizes. Tools for version control allow you to fetch previous versions if huge mistakes happen in the new version.

Git and GitHub are some of the most popular version control systems that are web-based hosting services. GitHub pulls various requests to enhance version control. Other version control tools are SVN, CVS, Mercurial, etc.

6# Stick to Proper Naming Conventions

There are certain best practices to follow while naming different functions, variables, types, and entities in the source code of your software. It might happen that developers use extra abbreviations, letters, skipping underscores, funny names, etc., but this costs you extra effort and time in the future.

Accurate naming gives accurate information about the function, variable, etc. It allows you to easily enhance readability. Even if someone else reads your code, they can also understand what function is supposed to do in the code. If you own complex software, it may be hard to look for a misnamed function or variable in the code and it will unnecessarily waste resources.

7# Conduct a strong code review

Code reviewing is a procedure where developers’ software code is further examined by some other developer. It enhances the overall quality of the code, identifies bugs, and also minimizes the work required for code optimization in the future.

Analyzing the code takes more time and the time required depends on the project size; it’s the only downside of this practice. However, it is worth it to implement this best practice, as this can not be performed using a program or a tool. Developers need to follow this practice for easy code optimization.

The software solutions team of developers should also check:

Naming conventions
Design
Styling
Fulfilled requirements
Test app and coverage
Optimization

8# Do not add too many features

Adding too many features that are mostly unwanted can make your software look too heavy to use. Users might not find it attractive to use your project and ultimately it will cause you a great loss. Instead, you should work on balancing the features of the software with refactoring. Refactoring any code is an essential part of the software dev process.

When the software becomes complex and bigger, features may change, models and libraries may get outdated, and code has to evolve. These are some potential issues that need to be monitored or it may cause huge technical debt for the business. Hence, developers need to keep minimal features in the beginning and increase them as and when needed. This practice will make the development process smooth and easy to carry out in the present and future as well.

Concluding Words

These are eight software development best practices that are a must to follow while developing any business software. These practices make development easier and quicker. Also, the code is made future-proof; even if any other person updates or works on your software in the future then they can easily understand what is the actual function of the code.

There are many best practices for implementation, we might discuss them in another article. However, if you are having any queries regarding this article, let us know in the comment section. To learn more about such amazing best practices, keep in touch with us, and happy reading!

Tech

US: A Judge Mandates that Google Allow Competing App Stores to Access Android

(VOR News) – The ruling is that Google, the greatest technology firm in the world, is required to make its Android smartphone operating system available to merchants that supply applications that are in direct rivalry with Google’s. This decision was reached by a judge in the United States of America.

The Android Play store, which is owned and operated by Google, was found to be an example of an illegal monopoly arrangement by a jury in the state of California on Monday. The finding was reached by a jury. Monday is the day that this decision was come to.

An earlier federal judge ruled Google’s search engine illegal.

This finding, which came after that decision, has forced the company to suffer yet another setback. As a result of the corporation having already encountered its initial obstacle, this decision has been established. This particular decision was made by the judge during the month of August, when the month was in progress.

In light of the fact that the decision was made, what exactly does it mean that the choice was accepted?

In accordance with the verdict, Google is obligated to make it possible for users to download Android app stores that are offered by third-party competitors. For a period of three years, the corporation is prohibited from imposing restrictions on the usage of payment mechanisms that are integrated into the application.

In addition, it is important to keep in mind that Google does not possess the right to impose restrictions on the utilization of ways to make payments online.

Additionally, the verdict makes it unlawful for Google to give money to manufacturers of smartphones in order to preinstall its app store. Smartphone manufacturers are prohibited from doing so.

Furthermore, it prevents Google from the possibility of sharing the revenue that is generated by the Play store with other companies that are in the industry of delivering mobile applications.

In addition to this, the court has mandated the establishment of a technical committee that will be made up of three different people chosen at random.

The committee will be responsible for monitoring the implementation of the reforms and finding solutions to any disagreements that may occur as a consequence of the implementation of the reforms while they are being implemented. This task will fall under the committee’s purview so that it may fulfill its duties.

However, certain components were allowed to be put into action until July 1st, despite the fact that the judge’s statement suggested that the ruling would take effect on November 1st. The statement was the basis for the ruling, which ultimately became effective.

Particularly, I wanted to know what Google’s reaction would be.

There is a fact that Google does not adhere to this directive, which has been brought to their attention. This document argued that the alterations that the judge had ordered to be made would “cause a range of unintended consequences that will harm American consumers, developers, and device makers.”

The judge had ordered the modifications to be implemented. The alterations were to be carried out as indicated by the judge’s ruling. The judge made it clear that he expected these revisions to be carried out in accordance with his guidance.

The company’s regulatory affairs vice president, Lee-Anne Mulholland, provided the following statement: “We look forward to continuing to make our case on appeal, and we will continue to advocate for what is best for developers, device manufacturers, and the billions of Android users around the world.”

On average, over seventy percent of the total market for smartphones and other mobile devices is comprised of mobile devices that are powered by the Android operating system. Both smartphones and other small mobile devices are included in this category.

In the event that the Play app store continues to be shown on the home page and that other Google applications are pre-installed prior to the installation of the Android application, smartphone manufacturers are entitled to install the Android application at no cost at their discretion.

Additionally, the Android application can be installed on devices that are manufactured for smartphones.

SOURCE: DWN

Tech

WhatsApp Now Features a “Mention” Tool for Status Updates and Stories.

(VOR News) – Those who use WhatsApp now have the ability to mention other people in their stories or status updates as a consequence of a feature that was only recently enabled on the platform.

Previous to this point, this capability was not available. It wasn’t until quite recently that this capability became available to the public.

According to the information that was provided by the company, users now have the opportunity to tag close friends in their stories, and the person who is mentioned will have the option to go back and re-share an earlier version of that story. This information was provided by the company. The corporation was kind enough to reveal this information to us.

Because of a new feature that has been added to the WhatsApp app, users now have the opportunity to like individual stories and status updates.

This capability was previously unavailable to WhatsApp users.

A significant amount of progress has been made in this context. Alternative readers now have the chance to “like” a work, which is comparable to liking a post on Facebook. This feature was introduced in recent years. When compared to the past, this is a tremendous shift.

At one point in time, viewers were only permitted to observe the total number of views that a particular story had gotten. These restrictions were eliminated in later versions of the software.

Additionally, it is essential that the likes and reactions to a story be kept anonymous during the entire process. One of the factors that contributes to the general mystery that surrounds this characteristic is the fact that this is one of the elements.

The person who brought it to the attention of others is the only person who will be able to judge who enjoyed it and who did not care about it. These individuals will be able to make this determination.

A notification will be issued to the individual who was referenced earlier in the sentence and who was named in the story or status update that was discussed. A notification of this nature will be sent to the individual via WhatsApp.

This message will be sent to the user in question whenever that person makes a reference to another person while they are in the process of elaborating on a narrative or updating their status. You will receive a notification alerting you that you have been tagged in the narrative.

This notification will be delivered to the person who receives this message. In addition, students will be provided with the opportunity to re-share the tale for themselves.

It is important to note that if the names of individuals who have been referenced in a narrative or a status update are included in any of these, then the names of those individuals will not be accessible to any third party through any of these. In light of the fact that the identities of those individuals will be concealed from public disclosure, this is the condition that will be required.

While WhatsApp recently made the announcement that it will be incorporating this functionality, it is highly likely that not all users will have access to it at the same time.

This is despite the fact that WhatsApp recently made this announcement.

Despite the fact that WhatsApp has only recently made a public announcement that it will move forward with the deployment, this is the situation that has presented itself.

As soon as a short period of time has elapsed, access will be made available to each and every person on the entire world.

Additionally, WhatsApp has hinted that new functionalities might be introduced to the status and updates tab in the future months.

The purpose of these capabilities is to provide users with assistance in maintaining healthy connections with the individuals who play a vital role in their living experiences. This is done in order to give users with support in maintaining close relationships with the folks who are the subject of the inquiry.

It is with the purpose of supporting users in successfully keeping close ties with the individuals in question that this step is taken.

SOURCE: DN

Tech

Over The Planned “Link Tax” Bill, Google Threatens to Remove NZ News Links.

(VOR News) – Google has sent a strong message to the New Zealand government, threatening to stop boosting local news content should the Fair Digital News Bargaining Bill become law.

The law, put up by the Labour government and backed by the coalition in power at the moment, mandates that digital companies such as Google pay back news organizations for links to their material.

News publishers, on the other hand, charge the tech giant with “corporate bullying.”

Google says this measure may have unanticipated effects.

Google New Zealand’s country director, Caroline Rainsford, voiced her worries that the law, which is being referred to as a “link tax,” is not doing enough to support the media industry in New Zealand right now.

She underlined that Google would have to make major adjustments if the previously mentioned law were to pass, including cutting off links to news articles from its Search, News, and Discover platforms and cutting off financial ties with regional publications.

According to Rainsford, similar legislation has been proposed and approved in other nations including Australia and Canada, but it has not been proven to be effective there and breaches the principles of the open web.

She drew attention to the fact that smaller media outlets will be most negatively impacted, which will limit their capacity to reach prospective audiences.

Google says its alternative options will protect smaller, local media from negative effects.

Conversely, it conveys apprehension regarding the possible fiscal obligations and vagueness of the legislation, which it feels generates an intolerable level of ambiguity for enterprises functioning within New Zealand.

The New Zealand News Publishers Association (NPA) has reacted to Google’s warnings by alleging that the internet behemoth is using coercive tactics.

They specifically contend that the need for regulation stems from the market distortion that Google and other tech giants have created, which has fueled their expansion into some of the most significant corporations in global history.

The legislation aims to create a more equal framework that media businesses can use to negotiate commercial relationships with technological platforms that profit from their content.

New Zealand Media Editors CEO Michael Boggs stated that he was in favor of the bill, citing the fact that Google now makes a substantial profit from material created by regional publications.

He also emphasized that the use of artificial intelligence by Google—which frequently makes references to news articles without giving credit to the original sources—highlights the significance of enacting legislation.

Paul Goldsmith, the Minister of Media and Communications, has stated that the government is now evaluating various viewpoints and is still in the consultation phase.

He stated that the government and Google have been having continuous talks and will keep up these ongoing discussions.

However, not all political parties accept the validity of the Act.

The ACT Party’s leader, David Seymour, has voiced his displeasure of the proposal, saying that Google is a game the government is “playing chicken” with. He threatened the smaller media companies, saying that they would suffer from worse search engine rankings if the internet giant followed through on its promises.

Seymour contended that it is not the government’s responsibility to shield companies from shifts in the market brought about by consumer preferences.

The things that have happened in other nations are similar to what has happened in New Zealand.

Google has agreements with a number of Australian media firms that are in compliance with its News Media Bargaining Code. These agreements contain provisions that permit an annual cancellation of these agreements.

Due to the government’s decision to exempt Google from the Online News Act, the company has committed to supporting news dissemination by contributing annually to the Canadian journalistic community.

The New Zealand measure is consistent with global approaches aimed at regulating the relationships that exist between technology corporations and media organizations.

It’s hard to say what will happen with the Fair Digital News Bargaining Bill as the discussion goes on. Google and the New Zealand media landscape are preparing for what might be a protracted legal battle.

SOURCE: TET