Pre-alpha: Early development phase involving requirements analysis, design, coding, and unit testing, before formal testing begins.
Alpha: Initial testing phase where developers use white-box techniques, followed by black-box or gray-box testing, often internally. The software may have significant bugs and is usually feature-complete by the end.
Beta: Post-alpha phase where the feature-complete software is tested by a larger, often external group to identify bugs and usability issues. It can be open (public) or closed (restricted). Some software remains in "perpetual beta" with continuous updates.
Release Candidate (RC): A near-final version, stable enough for release unless critical bugs are found. No new features are added, only bug fixes and refinements.
Stable Release: The final, production-ready version (also called "gold" or "general availability") after passing all tests, ready for public use.
Support and End-of-Life: Post-release, software may receive patches or service packs. Eventually, it reaches end-of-life, where support and updates cease.

>>106156317 (OP)
My autism loves this tiered development schedule.
That's why I use devuan/debian.

corel draw always was and continues to be superior to adobe illustrator and macromedia freehand (rip)

>>106156599
Only if you're talented.

>>106156317 (OP)
there is not such thing as that
all stages are now prompted and re-prompted , vibecoding goes bbbrrr