If a programmer follows the four phases of program development as intended, which of the four phases should require the least amount of creativity?
a) Software requirements
b) Software design
c) Software implementation
d) Software testing
e) None of the above, all four levels would require equal creativity
Answer: c. Explanation: Once the implementation phase has been reached, the algorithm should have already been specified, so the only effort involved in the implementation phase is of translating from the design (which is probably in an English-like pseudocode) to the programming language, and entering the code through an editor. The requirements and design phases require understanding the problem and coming up with a solution respectively, requiring creativity, and the testing phase will require diagnostic abilities usually forcing the programmer(s) to be creative in how the errors are found and fixed.