This module describes the individual phases making up the project life cycle for developing software.
The first course in the Object-Oriented Analysis and Design Fundamentals Series is primarily concerned with defining the users' expectations for the system.
Question: What are the methods and tools used in the first phase of the project life cycle?
Answer: Project initiation.
A basic understanding of how the entire software development process fits together is valueable.

What are the origins for the different software development methodologies?

Each one has grown out of a specific type of problem or industry and exhibits the unique characteristics of that problem or industry. Some methodologies focus on

1. standard business systems,
2. others on real-time or embedded systems, and
3. others on internal or system software.

What this means is that the software industry really has no single standardized development process.

Given the fact that there are so many different software development methodologies, the focus in this course will be on processes common to most methodologies. Important to note is the fact that the methods and tools are consistent across most of the current development processes. Learning these fundamental methods and tools will provide you with the skills to incorporate and customize a methodology that best meets the needs of your development environment.

In this module, you will learn about:

1. The components of a software development methodology
   
2. The phases making up the project life cycle for developing software
   
3. The scope of each project life-cycle phase
   
4. How the Unified Modeling Language (UML) fits into the software development process