question: Describe the software development lifecycle to a high school student in precisely 5 sentences.
answer: The software development lifecycle (SDLC) is a process used to design, develop, and test software. It begins with the planning phase, where developers gather requirements and outline the project's goals. Next is the design phase, where they create a blueprint for the software's structure. The development phase follows, where programmers write the actual code. Finally, the software undergoes testing to find and fix any errors before being released to users.