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Software developer
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A software developer is a person concerned with facets of the software development process, including the research, design, programming, and testing of computer software. Other job titles which are used with similar meanings are programmer, software analyst. According to developer Eric Sink, the differences between system design, software development, and programming are more apparent, even more so that developers become systems architects, those who design the multi-leveled architecture or component interactions of a large software system. In a large company, there may be employees whose sole responsibility consists of one of the phases above. In smaller development environments, a few people or even an individual might handle the complete process. The word software was coined as a prank as early as 1953, before this time, computers were programmed either by customers, or the few commercial computer vendors of the time, such as UNIVAC and IBM. The first company founded to provide products and services was Computer Usage Company in 1955. The software industry expanded in the early 1960s, almost immediately after computers were first sold in mass-produced quantities, universities, government, and business customers created a demand for software. Many of these programs were written in-house by full-time staff programmers, some were distributed freely between users of a particular machine for no charge. Others were done on a basis, and other firms such as Computer Sciences Corporation started to grow. The computer/hardware makers started bundling operating systems, systems software and programming environments with their machines, new software was built for microcomputers, so other manufacturers including IBM, followed DECs example quickly, resulting in the IBM AS/400 amongst others. The industry expanded greatly with the rise of the computer in the mid-1970s. In the following years, it created a growing market for games, applications. DOS, Microsofts first operating system product, was the dominant operating system at the time, by 2014 the role of cloud developer had been defined, in this context, one definition of a developer in general was published, Developers make software for the world to use. The job of a developer is to crank out code -- fresh code for new products, code fixes for maintenance, code for business logic, bus factor Software Developer description from the US Department of Labor
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OverDrive, Inc.
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OverDrive, Inc. is an American digital distributor of eBooks, audiobooks, music, and video titles. The company provides management, digital rights management and download fulfillment services for publishers, libraries, schools. OverDrives catalog includes more than 2 million digital titles from more than 5,000 publishers, the companys global network includes more than 27,000 libraries and schools. OverDrive was founded in 1986 and is located in Cleveland, Ohio, OverDrive was founded in 1986 and initially converted analog media to digital formats, such as interactive diskettes and CD-ROMs. As the Internet became a form of digital media distribution. In 2000, the company opened Content Reserve, an online ebook, in 2015, it was reported that Japans Rakuten was planning to buy out OverDrive for $410 million, with the deal set to close in April 2015. OverDrive CEO Steve Potash will remain in his current position and OverDrive will keep its name while operating under Rakuten USA, OverDrive launched its Digital Library Reserve, a digital download platform for public libraries, in 2002. The eBook distribution service included a download website and access to the Content Reserve collection development portal. In 2004, the platform evolved into a provider of DRM-protected audiobook downloads, by 2005, OverDrive was installing download stations into public libraries and adding music to its library platform. OverDrive added downloadable videos in April 2006, in 2007, the company launched its School Download Library, an eBook service for K–12 schools based on Digital Library Reserve. In March 2008, the announced plans to provide MP3 audiobooks to public libraries as well as retailers. As of October 2013, OverDrive content includes a selection of more than 1.8 million eBooks, audiobooks, and other digital content available in more than 64 languages. OverDrive is globally compatible with most major ereading devices, including Android, BlackBerry, ChromeOS, iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch, Kobo, Mac, NOOK, Palm, Sony Reader, and Windows. It is, however, not compatible with the most popular eReader, before entering the library market, OverDrive distributed eBooks to a number of e-tailers. In 2002, OverDrive was selected as the distributor of HarperCollins’ eBooks to the online retail stores. OverDrive launched web stores for Harlequin Enterprises in 2005, in 2008, OverDrive announced that it would provide download services for Borders Books. OverDrive has entered into partnerships with companies including Adobe Systems, Microsoft, Mobipocket. In 2008, Adobe and OverDrive jointly announced that OverDrive would be the co-developer and operator of Adobe ADEPT, in 2012, OverDrive partnered with Nokia to launch Nokia Reading, an eReading app and service for Nokia’s Lumia 900,800,710, and 610 Windows Phone devices
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Software release life cycle
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Usage of the alpha/beta test terminology originated at IBM. As long ago as the 1950s, IBM used similar terminology for their hardware development, a test was the verification of a new product before public announcement. B test was the verification before releasing the product to be manufactured, C test was the final test before general availability of the product. Martin Belsky, a manager on some of IBMs earlier software projects claimed to have invented the terminology, IBM dropped the alpha/beta terminology during the 1960s, but by then it had received fairly wide notice. The usage of beta test to refer to testing done by customers was not done in IBM, rather, IBM used the term field test. Pre-alpha refers to all activities performed during the project before formal testing. These activities can include requirements analysis, software design, software development, in typical open source development, there are several types of pre-alpha versions. Milestone versions include specific sets of functions and are released as soon as the functionality is complete, the alpha phase of the release life cycle is the first phase to begin software testing. In this phase, developers generally test the software using white-box techniques, additional validation is then performed using black-box or gray-box techniques, by another testing team. Moving to black-box testing inside the organization is known as alpha release, alpha software can be unstable and could cause crashes or data loss. Alpha software may not contain all of the features that are planned for the final version, in general, external availability of alpha software is uncommon in proprietary software, while open source software often has publicly available alpha versions. The alpha phase usually ends with a freeze, indicating that no more features will be added to the software. At this time, the software is said to be feature complete, Beta, named after the second letter of the Greek alphabet, is the software development phase following alpha. Software in the stage is also known as betaware. Beta phase generally begins when the software is complete but likely to contain a number of known or unknown bugs. Software in the phase will generally have many more bugs in it than completed software, as well as speed/performance issues. The focus of beta testing is reducing impacts to users, often incorporating usability testing, the process of delivering a beta version to the users is called beta release and this is typically the first time that the software is available outside of the organization that developed it. Beta version software is useful for demonstrations and previews within an organization
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Microsoft Windows
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Microsoft Windows is a metafamily of graphical operating systems developed, marketed, and sold by Microsoft. It consists of families of operating systems, each of which cater to a certain sector of the computing industry with the OS typically associated with IBM PC compatible architecture. Active Windows families include Windows NT, Windows Embedded and Windows Phone, defunct Windows families include Windows 9x, Windows 10 Mobile is an active product, unrelated to the defunct family Windows Mobile. Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20,1985, Microsoft Windows came to dominate the worlds personal computer market with over 90% market share, overtaking Mac OS, which had been introduced in 1984. Apple came to see Windows as an encroachment on their innovation in GUI development as implemented on products such as the Lisa. On PCs, Windows is still the most popular operating system, however, in 2014, Microsoft admitted losing the majority of the overall operating system market to Android, because of the massive growth in sales of Android smartphones. In 2014, the number of Windows devices sold was less than 25% that of Android devices sold and this comparison however may not be fully relevant, as the two operating systems traditionally target different platforms. As of September 2016, the most recent version of Windows for PCs, tablets, smartphones, the most recent versions for server computers is Windows Server 2016. A specialized version of Windows runs on the Xbox One game console, Microsoft, the developer of Windows, has registered several trademarks each of which denote a family of Windows operating systems that target a specific sector of the computing industry. It now consists of three operating system subfamilies that are released almost at the time and share the same kernel. Windows, The operating system for personal computers, tablets. The latest version is Windows 10, the main competitor of this family is macOS by Apple Inc. for personal computers and Android for mobile devices. Windows Server, The operating system for server computers, the latest version is Windows Server 2016. Unlike its clients sibling, it has adopted a strong naming scheme, the main competitor of this family is Linux. Windows PE, A lightweight version of its Windows sibling meant to operate as an operating system, used for installing Windows on bare-metal computers. The latest version is Windows PE10.0.10586.0, Windows Embedded, Initially, Microsoft developed Windows CE as a general-purpose operating system for every device that was too resource-limited to be called a full-fledged computer. The following Windows families are no longer being developed, Windows 9x, Microsoft now caters to the consumers market with Windows NT. Windows Mobile, The predecessor to Windows Phone, it was a mobile operating system
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Macintosh operating systems
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The family of Macintosh operating systems developed by Apple Inc. In 1984, Apple debuted the operating system that is now known as the Classic Mac OS with its release of the original Macintosh System Software. The system, rebranded Mac OS in 1996, was preinstalled on every Macintosh until 2002, noted for its ease of use, it was also criticized for its lack of modern technologies compared to its competitors. The current Mac operating system is macOS, originally named Mac OS X until 2012, the current macOS is preinstalled with every Mac and is updated annually. It is the basis of Apples current system software for its devices, iOS, watchOS. Apples effort to expand upon and develop a replacement for its classic Mac OS in the 1990s led to a few cancelled projects, code named Star Trek, Taligent, the Macintosh is credited with having popularized this concept. The classic Mac OS is the original Macintosh operating system that was introduced in 1984 alongside the first Macintosh and remained in primary use on Macs through 2001. Apple released the original Macintosh on January 24,1984, its system software was partially based on the Lisa OS and the Xerox PARC Alto computer. It was originally named System Software, or simply System, Apple rebranded it as Mac OS in 1996 due in part to its Macintosh clone program that ended a year later, Mac OS is characterized by its monolithic system. Nine major versions of the classic Mac OS were released, the name Classic that now signifies the system as a whole is a reference to a compatibility layer that helped ease the transition to Mac OS X. Although the system was marketed as simply version 10 of Mac OS. Precursors to the release of Mac OS X include OpenStep, Apples Rhapsody project. MacOS makes use of the BSD codebase and the XNU kernel, the first desktop version of the system was released on March 24,2001, supporting the Aqua user interface. Since then, several more versions adding newer features and technologies have been released, since 2011, new releases have been offered on an annual basis. It was followed by several more official server-based releases, server functionality has instead been offered as an add-on for the desktop system since 2011. The first version of the system was ready for use in February 1988, in 1988, Apple released its first Unix-based OS, A/UX, which was a Unix operating system with the Mac OS look and feel. It was not very competitive for its time, due in part to the crowded Unix market, A/UX had most of its success in sales to the U. S. government, where POSIX compliance was a requirement that Mac OS could not meet. The Macintosh Application Environment was a software package introduced by Apple in 1994 that allowed users of certain Unix-based computer workstations to run Apple Macintosh application software, MAE used the X Window System to emulate a Macintosh Finder-style graphical user interface
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Android (operating system)
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Android is a mobile operating system developed by Google, based on the Linux kernel and designed primarily for touchscreen mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets. In addition to devices, Google has further developed Android TV for televisions, Android Auto for cars. Variants of Android are also used on notebooks, game consoles, digital cameras, beginning with the first commercial Android device in September 2008, the operating system has gone through multiple major releases, with the current version being 7.0 Nougat, released in August 2016. Android applications can be downloaded from the Google Play store, which features over 2.7 million apps as of February 2017, Android has been the best-selling OS on tablets since 2013, and runs on the vast majority of smartphones. In September 2015, Android had 1.4 billion monthly active users, Android is popular with technology companies that require a ready-made, low-cost and customizable operating system for high-tech devices. The success of Android has made it a target for patent, Android Inc. was founded in Palo Alto, California in October 2003 by Andy Rubin, Rich Miner, Nick Sears, and Chris White. Rubin described the Android project as tremendous potential in developing smarter mobile devices that are aware of its owners location. The early intentions of the company were to develop an operating system for digital cameras. Despite the past accomplishments of the founders and early employees, Android Inc. operated secretly and that same year, Rubin ran out of money. Steve Perlman, a friend of Rubin, brought him $10,000 in cash in an envelope. In July 2005, Google acquired Android Inc. for at least $50 million and its key employees, including Rubin, Miner and White, joined Google as part of the acquisition. Not much was known about Android at the time, with Rubin having only stated that they were making software for mobile phones, at Google, the team led by Rubin developed a mobile device platform powered by the Linux kernel. Google marketed the platform to handset makers and carriers on the promise of providing a flexible, upgradeable system, Google had lined up a series of hardware components and software partners and signaled to carriers that it was open to various degrees of cooperation. Speculation about Googles intention to enter the communications market continued to build through December 2006. In September 2007, InformationWeek covered an Evalueserve study reporting that Google had filed several patent applications in the area of mobile telephony, the first commercially available smartphone running Android was the HTC Dream, also known as T-Mobile G1, announced on September 23,2008. Since 2008, Android has seen numerous updates which have improved the operating system, adding new features. Each major release is named in order after a dessert or sugary treat, with the first few Android versions being called Cupcake, Donut, Eclair. In 2010, Google launched its Nexus series of devices, a lineup in which Google partnered with different device manufacturers to produce new devices and introduce new Android versions
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Windows 8
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Windows 8 is a personal computer operating system developed by Microsoft as part of the Windows NT family of operating systems. Development of Windows 8 started before the release of its predecessor, Windows 7 and it was announced at CES2011, and followed by the release of three pre-release versions from September 2011 to May 2012. The operating system was released to manufacturing on August 1,2012, Windows 8 added support for USB3.0, Advanced Format hard drives, near field communications, and cloud computing. Windows 8 was released to a critical reception. Despite these shortcomings,60 million Windows 8 licenses were sold through January 2013, on October 17,2013, Microsoft released Windows 8.1. It addressed some aspects of Windows 8 that were criticized by reviewers and early adopters, Windows 8 was ultimately succeeded by Windows 10 in July 2015. Support for Windows 8 RTM ended on January 12,2016, per Microsoft lifecycle policies regarding service packs, Windows 8.1 must be installed to maintain support, Windows 8 development started before Windows 7 had shipped in 2009. Three milestone releases of Windows 8 leaked to the general public, milestone 1, Build 7850, was leaked on April 12,2011. It was the first build where the text of a window was written centered instead of aligned to the left and it was also probably the first appearance of the Metro-style font, and its wallpaper had the text shhh. Lets not leak our hard work, however, its detailed build number reveals that the build was created on September 22,2010. The leaked copy was Enterprise edition, the OS still reads as Windows 7. Milestone 2, Build 7955, was leaked on April 25,2011, the traditional Blue Screen of Death was replaced by a new black screen, although this was later scrapped. This build introduced a new ribbon in Windows Explorer, Build 7959, with minor changes but the first 64-bit version, was leaked on May 1,2011. The Windows 7 logo was replaced with text displaying Microsoft Confidential. On June 17,2011, build 7989 64-bit edition was leaked and it introduced a new boot screen featuring the same fish as the default Windows 7 Beta wallpaper, which was later scrapped, and the circling dots as featured in the final. It also had the text Welcome below them, although this was also scrapped, on June 1,2011, Microsoft unveiled Windows 8s new user interface, as well as additional features at both Computex Taipei and the D9, All Things Digital conference in California. The Building Windows 8 blog launched on August 15,2011, featuring details surrounding Windows 8s features, Microsoft unveiled more Windows 8 features and improvements on the first day of the Build conference on September 13,2011. Microsoft released the first public build of Windows 8, Windows Developer Preview at the event
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Operating system
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An operating system is system software that manages computer hardware and software resources and provides common services for computer programs. All computer programs, excluding firmware, require a system to function. Operating systems are found on many devices that contain a computer – from cellular phones, the dominant desktop operating system is Microsoft Windows with a market share of around 83. 3%. MacOS by Apple Inc. is in place, and the varieties of Linux is in third position. Linux distributions are dominant in the server and supercomputing sectors, other specialized classes of operating systems, such as embedded and real-time systems, exist for many applications. A single-tasking system can run one program at a time. Multi-tasking may be characterized in preemptive and co-operative types, in preemptive multitasking, the operating system slices the CPU time and dedicates a slot to each of the programs. Unix-like operating systems, e. g. Solaris, Linux, cooperative multitasking is achieved by relying on each process to provide time to the other processes in a defined manner. 16-bit versions of Microsoft Windows used cooperative multi-tasking, 32-bit versions of both Windows NT and Win9x, used preemptive multi-tasking. Single-user operating systems have no facilities to distinguish users, but may allow multiple programs to run in tandem, a distributed operating system manages a group of distinct computers and makes them appear to be a single computer. The development of networked computers that could be linked and communicate with each other gave rise to distributed computing, distributed computations are carried out on more than one machine. When computers in a work in cooperation, they form a distributed system. The technique is used both in virtualization and cloud computing management, and is common in large server warehouses, embedded operating systems are designed to be used in embedded computer systems. They are designed to operate on small machines like PDAs with less autonomy and they are able to operate with a limited number of resources. They are very compact and extremely efficient by design, Windows CE and Minix 3 are some examples of embedded operating systems. A real-time operating system is a system that guarantees to process events or data by a specific moment in time. A real-time operating system may be single- or multi-tasking, but when multitasking, early computers were built to perform a series of single tasks, like a calculator. Basic operating system features were developed in the 1950s, such as resident monitor functions that could run different programs in succession to speed up processing
