Many of us know the current state of things where software development is the hottest trend of the workforce. Everyone wants to be a programmer nowadays, but history wasn’t always so smooth. The story starts all the way back in the 1800s, when the first medical analog computers were created.
Those machines worked on a very basic principle that was the precursor of the ones and the zeros. The system was based on paper and punching holes inside them. The first person to think of that was Joseph Marie Jacquard, and he created a machine that would punch holes and make a loom turn in order to create a cloth. Click on this link to read more.
This simple tactic worked wonders for the giants like GEC, Elliott, and IBM. There is a lot of heated debate about who was the first programmer, and that title is often attributed to Ada Lovelace since she was the first woman to create a basic algorithm for the Difference Engine of Charles Babbage.
This invention allowed for new instructions to be added to it and switch shafts and gears. After this breakthrough, there was a lot of silence. This lasted for a hundred years until George Boole started implementing logic into mathematics.
This was a brand-new concept, and without this new addition, the world of computing wouldn’t exist. That’s why Boolean logic is one of the first things you learn when you go to an algorithm class. Then, Claude Shannon took this mathematical logic and tweaked it so that it could work in computers.
This was when the CS world started to gain traction, and it hasn’t stopped ever since. A decade after this happened, FORTRAN came into existence. This was the first programming language, and it was the best thing that ever happened to the world of big data and numbers. Visit this link to read more https://www.zdnet.com/article/what-is-a-software-developer-everything-you-need-to-know-about-the-programmer-role-and-how-it-is-changing/.
However, it wasn’t as good at handling inputs and outputs. IO devices are the keyboard, mouse, printers, and all those additions that we use to put data into a machine. This slowed the process down for mass development, and that’s when another programming language popped up called COBOL.
This genius invention is still the basis for many bank systems around the world. It’s been more than 60 years, but it still works like it was created yesterday. Over time, newer languages started to pop up. LISP was one of them, and the main purpose of it was to get us closer to the world of artificial intelligence.
Everyone was amazed by the capability of the computer to take data and transform it into something else, and we wanted to make it work like a human brain. With time, BASIC, C, C++, and Java came into existence, which is some of the most popular programming languages today.
That’s also the time when agile development was born, and the same principles that worked all those decades ago are still being used today.
The Tools
When a company starts developing software, they need to have a lot of tools at their disposal. These are all virtual tools, but they help the engineers when they need them. The main purpose of these tools is to make life easier, and they’ve hastened the time it takes to create a new application or operating system.
Plus, there has been a lot of talk about open-source software which can be specific or integrated. You should know that enterprise software development is quite difficult. A lot of people come together and work on a project without a monetary incentive. They do it out of love for the community.
That’s the main difference between MATLAB and Python, for example. In order to use MATLAB, you need to buy a license, and that’s when you’ll have the full utility of the program. Python, on the other hand, is completely free and can be used by anyone.
Their type of programming language you choose is based on personal choice, and there are many materials online that can get you started. Finally, the last stage of every cycle is the testing part. There are people who try to break the program by putting in unexpected inputs to see whether everything works properly. If an app passes the tests, then it can be released into the open market.
