Program Development Life Cycle In C Language | Program Development Life Cycle Definition In C Language

       Program Development Life Cycle

When we want to develop a program using any programming language, we follow a sequence of steps.

 These steps are called phases in program development. The program development life cycle is a set of steps or phases that are used to develop a program in any programming language.

Generally, the program development life cycle contains 6 phases, they are as follows….

• Problem Definition
• Problem Analysis
• Algorithm Development
• Coding & Documentation
• Testing & Debugging
• Maintenance

Fig: Program Development Life Cycle 

1. Problem Definition

We define the problem statement and we decide the boundaries of the problem. In this phase we need to understand the problem statement, what is our requirement, what should be the output of the problem solution. These are defined in this first phase of the program development life cycle.

2. Problem Analysis

 We determine the requirements like variables, functions, etc. to solve the problem. That means we gather the required resources to solve the problem defined in the problem definition phase. We also determine the bounds of the solution.

3. Algorithm Development

During this phase, we develop a step by step procedure to solve the problem using the specification given in the previous phase. This phase is very important for program development. That means we write the solution in step by step statements.

4. Coding & Documentation

This phase uses a programming language to write or implement the actual programming instructions for the steps defined in the previous phase. In this phase, we construct the actual program. That means we write the program to solve the given problem using programming languages like C, C++, Java, etc.,

5. Testing & Debugging

We check whether the code written in the previous step is solving the specified problem or not. That means we test the program whether it is solving the problem for various input data values or not. We also test whether it is providing the desired output or not.

6. Maintenance

The program is actively used by the users. If any enhancements found in this phase, all the phases are to be repeated to make the enhancements. That means in this phase, the solution (program) is used by the end-user. If the user encounters any problem or wants any enhancement, then we need to repeat all the phases from the starting, so that the encountered problem is solved or enhancement is added.