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IBM Donates Parts of Rational to Open Source
slashbob22 writes "IBM has decided to contribute portions of the Rational Unified Process to the Eclipse Foundation. From the article: 'RUP is a vast collection of methods and best practices for promoting quality and efficiency throughout software development projects. IBM's donation will also provide a foundation architecture and Web-based tools for the industry to engineer, collaborate on, share and reuse software development best practices.'"
If you can't sell it....DONATE IT!!!
As an intern at IBM this summer, I found that some of the regulars themselves didn't know what RUP was. In particular, some claimed it was simply a process to follow, some linked it with a special program, others claimed complete ignorance, and others simply waved it off as labeling the pre-existing procedures. I still wonder what RUP is all about...
Robert Bindler
A Computer Science student's views on technology.
I've been a RUP user/proponent for several years. This may be, as the article alludes, a shot in the arm for improved processes. However, it remains to be seen just what the "subset" of RUP entails. RUP can be an unwieldy process that, if used in the (lowercase "e") extreme, make development slower and more "process-laden."
However, from what I've seen lately out of some shops that are using more "modern" approaches (and failing miserably) this could be welcome relief.
Successfully condensing fact from the vapor of nuance since 1998.
That's why Rational Rose is such an efficient, consistent, bug-free software.
</sarcasm>
I don't know about other people's experiences, but some of the worst pieces of software I've ever used have been CASE tools (you know the type: UML, lifecycle, etc). Kinds of make you question the usefulness of those tools and processes.
You DO know that this is about the "Rational Unified Process" and NOT Rational Rose, right? RUP is the development process that Rational tries to sell you on when you sell you the Rose UML tool. If you buy into RUP, they can manage to send you tons of consultants and sell you even more costly software.
RUP is a step up from the Waterfall model, but it's certainly not the greatest thing out there.
Look, we are and I'll admit that. I'm not afraid to criticize myself and other developers:
- Me and other coders are often eager to jump right into projects instead of designing them thoroughly (using RUP for example)
- Other coders and I often get bored after I figure out the hard part and say the rest is trivial
It's more of a work ethic. Also, my friends in the gaming industry (Electronic Arts(tm) for example) work 60-80 hour weeks, so it's understandable that they seek out shortcuts.
Let's agree to work a little harder and/or smarter and not skimp on design! USE RATIONAL!
If you "get" pointers add me as a friend (116)!
IBM is "donating" the methods of RUP to open source projects? I thought IBM liked open source?
As far as RUP goes, it's kind of like communism. Looks good in theory, but goes all pear-shaped when real human beings get involved. Pull the UML out of RUP and leave it at that--the rest is madness, enobling "process" over productivity.
Remain calm! All is well!
OMG! Now Microsoft will be able to use it and write good products.
[[SLAP]]
Oh, never mind. Everyone knows MS would never be caught dead touching anything OSS.
"It's the height of ridiculousness to say for those 9 lines you get hundreds of millions."
First, I have personally used the RUP successfully. The success was in spite of the process, not because of it. The excellent people I had on my team made the work a success, and not a paperwork-on-rails approach to software development.
On the upside, the RUP is geared toward control of iterative projects. On the downside, it treats every diagram you draw as though it were as valuable as the working software you really intend to produce. It also adds artificial divisions between roles in the process (the architect sends X to the analyst who elaborates it and sends it on to the developer who extrudes Y...). It tends to reduce communication among team members, and between team members and stakeholders. It's original intent seems to have been to give all the diagrams in the UML a reason for being (and by extension, Rose).
Show me a failing unit test and I'll show you a low-level design awaiting implementation. Running code trumps "managed artifacts" any day.
RUP is a step up from the Waterfall model, but it's certainly not the greatest thing out there.
It's obvious you have a limited view on what the RUP process is... RUP is in the Agile category of develpment processes and can be tailored from basically no ceremony (design documents, traceability, etc.) to high-levels of ceremony. The problem with RUP is that it's been heavily used in the Government sector, which historically has been at the far-right on the ceremony scale; many people have a vast misconception that RUP is "just a step-up" from the waterfall model. When in fact, RUP is not even in the same category as the Waterfall model.
I believe IBM releasing the RUP standards to the Eclipse project is going to go a lot of good in getting RUPs current "label" turned around from being just a "modified waterfall" method, to being known as a full-blown Agile method.
Giving away half a product away may not seem rational, but it is shrewd. You have the engine, would you like to buy the key.
... Now, THAT would have been irrational.
As for for the decision to give half the product away, I understand IBM was thinking of giving away the square root of the product away
Look at the 80 character line lengths in the parent post and thus the premature line breaks.
You obviously copy+pasted this post from somewhere, which isn't cool to do unless you properly attribute it.
If you "get" pointers add me as a friend (116)!
In otherwords, its a buzzword generator with no real content.
I still have more fans than freaks. WTF is wrong with you people?
What exactly does it mean to donate a software development process? Wasn't the Eclipse Foundation already free to use RUP for the development of the Eclipse environment? And couldn't companies using RUP already use the Eclipse environment for their projects?
While what I understand of RUP is that it tends to go overboard with extreme implementation of basic ideas, the root of their labor division is in the excellent practice of not allowing one coder to push his code changes all the way through to distribution without some amount of validation by another set of eyes.
I'm part of the enterprise change control staff at my company, and I can tell you that the more tightly we implement controls, the more often we discover that the problems that arise are from developers implementing untested changes without authorization. If you force them to submit change documents, and don't let the changes get into the code base until the change has been authorized (for that matter, don't let them code until the change has been authorized), then have someone else test the changed software before the code gets pushed up, you've got a three-legged stool to stand on, and you have an auditable process that maintains accountability.
I bet if you look at the submission process of any successful open source project, you'll find the same constructs, maybe just not called out so formally. The basic ideas aren't bad, just some implementations. RUP gives you a framework to design your procedures with.
The Spoon
Updated 6/28/2011
Did it ever occur to you that a language that needs auto-generated code is fundamentally flawed (too low-level)?
Linux is not Windows
> I'm part of the enterprise change control staff at my company, and I can tell you that the more tightly
> we implement controls, the more often we discover that the problems that arise are from developers
> implementing untested changes without authorization. If you force them to submit change documents, and
> don't let the changes get into the code base until the change has been authorized (for that matter, don't
> let them code until the change has been authorized), then have someone else test the changed software
> before the code gets pushed up, you've got a three-legged stool to stand on, and you have an auditable
> process that maintains accountability.
don't forget "The Law of Unintended Consequences" which shows that:
1. as accountability goes up attitude, morale, productivity, and efficiency go down
2. once you hit critical mass on paperwork, process, etc you destroy motivation - there's some point on the curve at which point everyone just says 'who cares' and 'why bother'
3. it's impossible to really anticipate everything upfront, which means that minor changes that in a system and organization that embraces agility & resilence can be easily handled in stride take 40x as long in an organization afraid of blame.
4. most of the work is done by the motivated and talented 10% of the staff. these people leave rather than put up with the bureacracy designed to hinder the 90% that are unproductive.
RUP is a disaster, I've seen it absolutely wreck companies.