Which phase of an agile application would create a function that calculates shipping costs based on an item’s weight and delivery zip code?

The implementation phase of the software development life cycle is where the design is translated into executable code. Creating a function—which involves writing the programming logic, defining parameters, and producing a return value—is the core activity of implementation (also known as coding or construction). The function for calculating shipping costs is a tangible piece of software created by a developer during this phase, based on requirements from the analysis phase and blueprints from the design phase.

B: The analysis phase gathers requirements, defining what the function should do, not actually creating it.

C: The design phase creates a plan or blueprint for the function's structure and its place in the system, but does not involve writing code.

D: The testing phase occurs after implementation to verify that the created function works as specified.

- Sommerville, I. (2016). Software Engineering (10th ed.). Pearson. Chapter 2, "Software Processes," describes the fundamental activities of software development, identifying "Software implementation" (p. 39) as the stage where the system is developed by programming and configuring software.

- Pressman, R. S., & Maxim, B. R. (2020). Software Engineering: A Practitioner's Approach (9th ed.). McGraw-Hill Education. In Chapter 4, "Process Models," the "Construction" activity is defined as the combination of coding and testing, with coding being the primary task of implementation.

- Georgia Institute of Technology. (n.d.). CS 6300: Software Development Process. Course materials on the Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC) distinguish implementation as the phase dedicated to writing code based on design documents.