Unit 4: Vocabulary

USA
UK
Agile
USA
UK
an iterative and incremental software development approach with work divided into sprints of a predetermined length
USA
UK
"The first book on Agile methodologies is the Manifesto for Agile Software Development written in 2001."
USA
UK
alpha
USA
UK
the first version of a software application that is "feature ready" but still very far from "production ready"
USA
UK
"Alpha versions are rarely released to the public and frequently contain serious bugs."
USA
UK
beta
USA
UK
a software version which is feature-ready, has passed early testing, and ready for more widespread testing
USA
UK
"The beta version of the new program was released yesterday, but final release is still months away."
USA
UK
development cycle
USA
UK
the process of taking a piece of software from initial concept to final delivery
USA
UK
"The two most popular methodologies in the software development cycle are Waterfall and Agile."
USA
UK
freemium
USA
UK
functioning software distributed free of charge with the possibility to buy more features later if desired
USA
UK
"The freemium model is increasingly seen because people are very reluctant to buy something without testing it first."
USA
UK
help file
USA
UK
electronic documentation included with a program
USA
UK
"The help file often contains useful program shortcuts."
USA
UK
MVP (minimum viable product)
USA
UK
an early release with only the most important features included
USA
UK
"MVP releases allow a company to get to market quickly by maintaining focus on the core feature set without wasting time on extra features that add little value to the average user."
USA
UK
patch
USA
UK
a software update intended primarily to fix bugs or security holes in a software release
USA
UK
"Software patches and other updates should be available on a software publisher's web site."
USA
UK
perform a meaningful task
USA
UK
to do something useful as opposed to waste time
USA
UK
"Without a CPU a computer is unable to perform any meaningful task."
USA
UK
productive
USA
UK
able to deliver a high number of something efficiently
USA
UK
"Office suites such as MS Office or Google Docs are designed to make users more productive at their jobs."
USA
UK
RC (release candidate)
USA
UK
a piece of software that has passed its testing stages and is close to release
USA
UK
"Apple refers internally to a release candidate as "the golden master"."
USA
UK
rest at ease
USA
UK
to be free from worry
USA
UK
""Rest at ease, my boy," said the salesman, "this new graphics card will have you pwning alien worlds for years to come.""
USA
UK
SDLC (software development life cycle)
USA
UK
a formalized approach to creating and maintaining software
USA
UK
"The SDLC consists of: requirements gathering, design, programming, testing, deployment, and maintenance."
USA
UK
trial version
USA
UK
a piece of software which is available for evaluation by customers free of charge, normally for a limited amount of time
USA
UK
"Much to the annoyance of potential customers, sometimes a company "cripples" their trial versions by offering less features than the full version."
USA
UK
upgrade
USA
UK
to replace an older version of software or hardware with a newer version
USA
UK
"The man needed to upgrade his office suite so he could export his document files as XML and JSON."
USA
UK
Waterfall
USA
UK
a top down approach to software development with everything decided up front with milestones and distant deadlines
USA
UK
"Waterfall is best suited for projects where there is a clear goal and requirements are unlikely to change."
USA
UK
you should be wary
USA
UK
to be careful because something might be dangerous or disastrous
USA
UK
"You should be wary of bugs in beta versions and not use them on production servers."
Go to unit menu