Rapid Application Development - Is it Really a Need of Today?

Rapid Application Development (RAD) is a software development methodology. In this competitive world, software product delivery time should be as little as it can be. The RAD is a way to this. As the name suggests, RAD technique allows RAPID application development, with development time, usually, 30 to 90 days.

Before touching upon the topic in details, I would like to make you feel that you are not away from this methodology. The code generators, visual tools like Visual Basic (VB) and Visual C++ (VC++), and CASE tools like Rational Rose are based on RAD technique. For e.g., you design your application with Rational Rose and it can then automatically generate code in languages like C++, VC++ or VB. If you have worked with tools like MS FrontPage then its again a RAD tool; you design your web-page layout and contents and HTML code will be automatically generated.

Previous paragraph brings out an important fact. Although, RAD will require early requirement specifications and it can be applied at design phase also but mostly it attacks the construction phase of the software development.

There many methods of RAD applied in software construction. There may be commercial or free functional libraries available that can cater to some functionality of your application. You need to simply link them to your application. At other times, re-usable code may be available that you can use with no or little modifications.

Above are not so appealing forms for RAD methodology. There are RAD tools that occupy the topmost position in this approach. Take the case of code generator RAD tools. The user needs to enter few customizable inputs to generate required code. For e.g. you need to generate a C code for printing numbers between 1 and 100 in steps of 5. So, just input START, END, STEP to the code generator and it will output C code.

#include main() {

int i;

for(i=START;i

---

Professional Software Icons For Your Standalone Application

User interfaces and accessibility are some of the most important... Read More

Microsoft CRM Modification ? Overview for IT Specialist

Microsoft CRM is now on the scene and it is... Read More

Microsoft Great Plains Implementation: Verticals - Wholesale Order Entry center ? overview

Microsoft Business Solutions Great Plains has substantial market share and... Read More

Navision Sales Module & Reporting: Jet Reports, C/ODBC, XBRL, Business Analytics ? highlights

Microsoft bought Navision, Denmark based software development company, along with... Read More

Microsoft Great Plains Customization Tools Evolution ? Overview for Consultant

When Great Plains Software introduced the first graphical accounting application... Read More

How to Choose the BEST Charting Software

I suggest that you do not spend a lot of... Read More

C++ Tutorials: 3, Program Flow (If, Else, While, For)

Program Flow is what you think it is. How the... Read More

Keep Your Software Simple! A Review of EditPlus

I like my software simple. If it's too complex or... Read More

Popular Fleet Maintenance Programs

Some companies that are in need of fleet management may... Read More

Can You Calculate Complex Financial Calculations?

Are you a whiz at calculating financial information? Not the... Read More

Microsoft Great Plains Integration Manager ? Working With Text File

Microsoft Business Solutions main middle market ERP application - Microsoft... Read More

New SQL Delta Version 3.1

COMMAND LINE FUNCTIONA powerful command line script processor has been... Read More

Groupware and Version History: Collaboration Series #1

This article is the first of a series of articles... Read More

Linux Vs. Windows

This article will not attempt to advocate the use of... Read More

Destination: Desktop for Google

First we had the original Google search that evolved into... Read More

Anti-Virus Software

Anti-virus software is used to find, remove or fix files... Read More

About Microsoft Sysprep (System Preparation) Utility (Windows 2000)

The Microsoft system preparation utility for Windows 2000 is a... Read More

Microsoft RMS ? Great Plains Integration ? Overview For IT Specialist

Microsoft Great Plains and Microsoft Retail Management System (Microsoft RMS)... Read More

Microsoft Great Plains Implementation for Midsize & Large Corporation: Lockbox Processing

Microsoft Great Plains is now targeting large and midsize businesses... Read More

SpyBot - Search and Destroy versus Microsoft AntiSpyware (Beta).... My personal experiences...

Ok... Where to start?Well, I guess I will start at... Read More

Software Review: Xsitepro Total Site Management Software

It's not very often I get excited about a software... Read More

Quick Summary of Basic and Common Linux Commands

There are many commands that are used in linux on... Read More

What To Do When Windows Wont Boot

When Windows fails to boot it is normally caused by... Read More

Microsoft Great Plains version 8.5: Upgrade, Customization, VBA, Crystal Reports - Highlights

Microsoft Great Plains is one of the Microsoft Business Solutions... Read More

A Guide To Purchasing Professional XP Icons Online And Enhancing Your Applications

Icons are used everywhere; right from software applications, to internet... Read More

A Simple Computer Software Definition

What is Software?Software is a set of instruction written to... Read More

Adware, What Is It?

Adware is a type of Spyware program that displays some... Read More

How to Get The Best Accounting Software For Your Small Business

Buying accounting software is a major investment. It's an important... Read More

Is Software Tester a Most Infamous Person in a Software Project Team?

The fact that a software tester is a most infamous... Read More

Microsoft CRM ? Consulting in the Post-Recession Time

New post-recession era has new features, which didn't exist in... Read More

Microsoft Great Plains POP: Purchase Order Processing ? Overview For Consultants

Great Plains Purchase Order Processing (POP) module makes up one-third... Read More

Microsoft Business Solutions Customization Options - Overview for Programmer

Several years ago Microsoft purchased Great Plains Software, then Navision... Read More

Reloading Windows XP

If you have been running Windows XP for a couple... Read More