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In Software Engineering, much is heard about the term Software Artifact. I researched about it and found the following definition:
An article or artifact is one of several types of by-products produced during software development. Some artifacts (for example, use cases, class diagrams and other UML models, requirements and design documents) help describe the function, architecture and software design. Other artifacts are related to the development process itself - such as project plans, business processes and risk assessments. They be manual, executable files, modules etc.
The term artifact in connection with software development is widely associated with methods or development processes specific, for example, the Unified Process. This use of the term can originated with these methods.
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artifact_(software_development)
I still can’t understand. What is a Software Artifact?
In college I was told that an artifact was either a document or a model. The difference from one to the other - if it is not clear - is that a document has the primary function of being consulted by people, while a model in general also receives automated processing. As both documents and models need to be versioned, going to the memory of the project, etc., "artifact" was used to refer to both. At least that’s how I learned, I don’t know if it’s the way it’s used these days.
– mgibsonbr