An Interesting Account on Developing Custom Software

Demand for custom software is steadily rising all over the world. As the market is consistently expanding, the number of custom software development companies is sprouting at an exponential rate. However, folks who are somewhat technically challenged may not have optimum clarity about what custom software is.

The procedure of custom software development involves designing software applications for a particular group of users inside an organisation. These software applications are meant to cater to the specific requirements of a limited number of people. 

At the onset of the so called Information Age, computer programmes involved punching direct instructions into machines. This punch-in was either done by installing switches or by making connections to various logical units through cables. In simple words, computer programming in its initial days depended on circuit of wires. Then, came the vacuum tubes and with the invention of this item, technology took a big leap forward. Thus, much of the wirings and the cables were replaced as the new version of computer technology evolved. Then again, there was another significant paradigm shift in the late 1940s as binary calculus was introduced to computer technology. It was from this time onward that the revolution of computing started.

The modern times of software programming traces back to 1960s. The focus of software development has always been on enhancing its quality. Improving the quality of a software application is a broad concept. It covers aspects like:

• Stability
• Speed
• Testability
• Usability
• Readability
• Security
• Size
• The number of bugs or flaws and of course
• Price

FORTRAN is one of the oldest programming languages. It satisfied some of the basic characteristics for which it was considered as programming language, like:

• A well defined vocabulary or set of words
• Proper grammar or predefined syntax 

Gradually, when Cobol was introduced in 1960 by the Codasyl Committee, the jargon computer language came into existence. Cobol was the acronym for Common Business Oriented Language. Meanwhile, hardware components of a computer underwent impressive upgradation. Thus, computers were now connected to teletype machines to speedup the entry of programmes. At this stage, the floppy disk, hard drives and computer networks came into existence. This made the life of programmers unbelievably easier.

In contrast to custom software, off-the-shelf software comes as a packaged computer application that is easily available to a much larger audience with varying requirement specifications. MS Office, for example, is meant to cater to a global audience who have different needs to meet.

There are innumerable benefits of investing into this type of software applications. Most importantly, customised software comes with mind-blowing features that generic software applications lack. Businesses make hefty investments on tailor-made computer applications having custom-specific features to enhance productivity. Customised software undoubtedly improves efficiency of an organisation’s workforce. As such, every enterprise has a set of unique needs and requirements, which only custom software applications can resolve. To put in a blunt way, generic software applications are much restrained in this aspect.

Choosing the right custom software development company for one’s business is never easy. However, there are many competent service providers that offer state-of-the-art service in this aspect. Teaming up with these entities prove rewarding for businesses in the long run.