The Software Development Life Cycle - Software Testing: Testing Across the Entire Software Development Life Cycle - page 51

Table 2.4 Software development environments

Development
sandbox
environment

Development
integration
environment

Production staging
environment

Production
environment

Hardware

Individual
developers'
workstations
or designated
individual
server areas

Shared server
space

Staging server(s) —
maybe externally
hosted

Production
server(s)—maybe
externally hosted

Access Developers

access their own
hardware

Project team
members,
project
managers

Review team,
project managers

Public—might
include worldwide
use or limited
use to enterprise
intranet or other
security boundaries

Activities Coding

Prototyping
Individual
component
and page
development
Unit testing

Component and
page integration
Integration
testing
Integration
problem
resolution

System testing
User acceptance
testing

Public operation

Across this life cycle process, the development of custom software evolves
through four environments, illustrated in Table 2.4. The software for each module is
prepared and tested in the development sandbox environment. The software for the
integrated system is assembled and tested in the development integration environ-
ment. User acceptance testing occurs in the production staging environment. The
approved system goes into operational use in the production environment. The fl ow
of purchased or packaged software through the environments usually starts with the
production staging environment because there is no source code for the fi rm's pro-
grammers to develop or integrate.
A development sandbox consists of the required software development tools
and preliminary test data that developers use in “building sandcastles.'' This is a
term used by developers to denote trying out creative designs without constraints
imposed by a rigid production environment. Locally duplicated sandboxes, called
variant sandboxes , enable team members to simultaneously work on different re-
leases of the same project. In this environment, developers use their own desktop
or laptop computers and engage in coding, prototyping, individual component and