Software construction in the context of Programming code

A computer language is a formal language for humans to communicate with a computer, not a natural language. In earlier days of computing (before the 1980s), the term was used interchangeably with programming language, but today, used primarily for taxonomy, is a broader term that encompasses languages that are not programming in nature. Sub-categories (with possibly contended hierarchical relationships) include:

• Construction
  • Programming – for controlling computer behavior
    • Command – for controlling the tasks of a computer, such as starting programs
    • Query – for querying databases and information systems
    • Transformation – for transforming the text of a formal language into text that meets a specific goal
  • Structural
    • Configuration – for writing configuration files
    • Data exchange – examples: JSON, XML
    • Markup – for annotating a document in a way that is syntactically distinguishable from the text, such as HTML
    • Page description – for describing the appearance of a printed page in a higher level than an actual output bitmap
    • Style sheet – for expressing the presentation of structured documents, such as CSS
• Modeling – for designing systems
  • Architecture description – for describing and representing system architecture
  • Hardware description – for modeling integrated circuits
• Simulation – for simulating
• Specification – for describing what a system should do

The waterfall model is the process of performing the typical software development life cycle (SDLC) phases in sequential order. Each phase is completed before the next is started, and the result of each phase drives subsequent phases. Compared to alternative SDLC methodologies such as Agile, it is among the least iterative and flexible, as progress flows largely in one direction (like a waterfall) through the phases of conception, requirements analysis, design, construction, testing, deployment, and maintenance.The waterfall model is the earliest SDLC methodology.When first adopted, there were no recognized alternatives for knowledge-based creative work.