There's something new for readers of The Rational Edge. In the spirit of our upcoming user conference, where software professionals share concepts and techniques over five days of intense interaction, we are introducing a new forum focused on the contents of this ezine. Now you can start, or join, a conversation about what you've just read here. You'll see a link to the new "Rational Edge forum" at the end of each article.
As IBM Rational Build Forge expert Carey Benge notes in this month's cover story, "The process of assembling all the pieces of a software system into a deployable, consumable product ... involves multiple disciplines, including development, configuration management, testing, and release management." He explains how Build Forge technology offers the structures needed to automate interactions between these disciplines and greatly improve your build and release processes. We also compare and contrast business vs. system use cases, and the Rational Unified Process vs. Microsoft Solutions Framework. Plus, we consider ways to do an impact analysis using Rational application, design, and construction tools.
You'll find the new forum, new articles, and much more by clicking on the "Contents" tab above.
IBM Rational Software Development Conference now in its 10th year, by Scott Hebner Now in its tenth season, the IBM Rational Software Development Conference will be held June 10-14, at the Walt Disney World Swan and Dolphin in Orlando, Florida. More than 2,500 software developers and practitioners will be attending.
Cover story:Automated build management for enterprise quality management and build-driven agility, by Carey Benge Build management spans multiple software development disciplines and is often performed using error prone, largely manual processes. This article explores ways to automate build management activities on large-scale projects, and introduces IBM Rational Build Forge technology for automated build and release management and improved software quality.
Announcing the IBM SOA Newsletter Delivered monthly to your desktop, this news vehicle brings you the latest information, best practices, technical tips, resources and more, on service oriented architecture (SOA). Whether you are just getting started or expanding your SOA solution, you'll receive how-to's on quality management, SOA governance, and more, plus upcoming events to help put the power of SOA to work for your business. Subscribe today
Impact Analysis with Rational Architecture Management Tools, by Joel Sundman Conducting an impact analysis before making changes to an existing system is a recommended practice to ensure that all system interdependencies are known, and that changes to one or more components will be understood in terms of the effects on other components. This article describes specific techniques for using the IBM Rational toolset for performing an impact analysis.
Comparing the Rational Unified Process (RUP) and Microsoft Solutions Framework (MSF), by Sandra Sergi Santos The Microsoft Solutions Framework and the Rational Unified Process both offer process guidance for software development teams, but how do you go about comparing the two? This article presents the major structural differences and similarities for both frameworks.
Develop Better Software Faster with IBM Rational Systems Developer and IBM Rational PurifyPlus, by Anandi Krishnamurthy This article describes how to use the IBM Rational PurifyPlus for Linux and UNIX family of runtime analysis tools from the IDE to improve the quality and performance of their software products. Written specially for users of IBM Rational Systems Developer V7.0.
Book review: Rails for Java Developers, reviewed Michael E. Hlasyszyn
If you're a Java developer looking for a new problem-solving tools for building Web applications, you will learn a lot from Stuart Halloway and Justin Gehtland's new book, Rails for Java Developers. This review explains why.
Book excerpt: CMMI for Outsourcing: Guidelines for Software, Systems, and IT Acquisition, written by Hofmann, Yedlin, Mishler, and Kushner An excerpt from the recent book, CMMI for Outsourcing: Guidelines for Software, Systems, and IT Acquisition, by Hofmann, Yedlin, Mishler, and Kushner: "a practical introduction to the initial CMMI-ACQ and its use in all phases of technology acquisition."
Collaboration in a flat world -- Part One: Collaboration development tools, by Gary Pollice Collaboration in the field of software development covers a wide range of team activities, from a co-located team working on a small project, to a geographically distributed project involving three or more time zones and hundreds of developers, some of them outsourced. This article describes the current state of collaborative development and considers several obstacles to optimum collaboration.
