Product Description

The Rational Unified Process (RUP) is a saleable product from Rational/IBM.The RUP unifes the entire software development team and seeks to optimizethe productivity of each and every team member by putting the collectiveexperience derived from thousands of development projects and many industryleaders at the user's fingertips. It is a very popular product, and this bookrepresents the most thorough documentation for the latest version of theproduct (RUP v2003), which was released in May of 2003.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #321839 in Books
• Published on: 2003-12-18
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 336 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
You will eventually have to deal with The Rational Unified Process (RUP) if you work on large software projects. In practice, RUP is a Web-based project management tool with a built in e-coach (a sophisticated help system) and much previous art. It emphasises obvious project management practices such as defining user needs, interactive development and testing, reusing working code components, inter-developer communications, change control, risk management and so on. Rational claim to add value by charging for it, couching it in arcane management speak and invoking UML. The tools it provides make it easier to implement good practice, but RUP is far from being a panacea and, to some developers, this introduction will seem patronising.

Managing large software projects, unlike civil engineering, remains more art than craft. Customers don't know what they want until they see what they've got. The structure often remains secret from the paying customer, the finished product always comes with faults, accurate costing is impossible and large software projects frequently fail more often than civil engineering projects. It's not surprising, then, that much of The Rational Unified Process: An Introduction is made up of somewhat uninformative statements, like "Workers have activities which define the work they perform", or "A metric is a measurable attribute of an entity". RUP is gaining mind share as a useful tool--and this is a low cost introduction--but don't expect it to turn software development into engineering. --Steve Patient

From the Author
A roadmap to the Rational Unified Process
This book is not the "Silver Bullet". This book is not an end, the ultimate answer. It is only a start, the tip of an iceberg, a beach-head for your discovery of the Rational Unified Process. This software development process is quite comprehensive, covering many different disciplines and can be overwhelming at first, a maze sometimes, and I wrote this book to be your travel guide when researching it. I have tried to present in simple terms the key principles and the underlying concepts, to introduce the jargon and to provide roadmaps for your personal exploration of the Rational Unified Process. Although only my name shows up on the cover, this book is the result of the collective effort of many people; first my team, the Rational Process Development Group, which spreads from Vancouver to Stockholm, and scores of other "rationalites." In this development process, we have tried to capture, synthesize and present the best software development practices we could identify, based on our own experience, and that of our partners and customers. This book is not new (nor for that respect is the Rational Unified Process): it was part of our version 4.x in 1996, but was only available through Rational Software, so I am delighted that with very short turn-around time Addison Wesley Longman accepted to publish it to make it more widely available.
Philippe Kruchten, Rational Software, Vancouver BC, Canada

From the Back Cover

The Rational Unified Process, Third Edition, is a concise introduction to IBM's Web-enabled software engineering process. Rational Unified Process®, or RUP®, Lead Architect Philippe Kruchten quickly and clearly describes the concepts, structure, content, and motivation that are central to the RUP. Readers will learn how this approach to software development can be used to produce high-quality software, on schedule and on budget, using the Unified Modeling Language (UML), software automation, and other industry best practices.

The RUP unifies the entire software development team and optimizes the productivity of each team member by bringing them the experience of industry leaders and lessons learned from thousands of projects. It provides detailed and practical guidance through all phases of the software development life cycle, but it is not inflexible. The RUP can be tailored to suit a wide variety of projects and organizations.

This new edition has been updated to reflect all the changes integrated into the latest version of the Rational Unified Process--RUP 2003. It includes a four-color poster that lists key RUP elements: disciplines, workflows, artifacts, phases, and milestones.

RUP 2003 also offers

Customer Reviews

A Good Introduction to the Rational Unified Process.
If you want a manageable introduction to the Rational Unified Process then this is the book for you. There are many large and detailed volumes on the subject but if you are new to the RUP then read this one first and you'll find it easier to get into the rest. There are three reasons for this. Firstly, the book is only about 300 pages long and the information is concise. Secondly, the layout is very good, starting with the process itself then moving to a description of each of the workflows and finishing with chapters on planning and implementation. Thirdly, it is very readable but with sufficient content to make it a valuable reference work while working on an RUP project.

A good introduction to a rather complex set of rules
For anyone that has heard of the Rational Unified Process and never had the time to spend learning all of it's differing facets. This book is the answer, the text is clear and breaks out some very clear examples of the stages involved and the tools applied to each.

So if UML confuses you, if the term RUP crops up in your line of work, this is the book to read.

It could have done with covering a couple of items with a little more depth, but a very good starting point for the Rational Unified Process.

good book on OO process
It documents the Object-oriented design process used by the Rational Corporation. In case you are not aware, the authors of UML work for Rational and they are the company that makes Rational Rose, the market leader in OO design tools.

The book outlines the process, which has many good features. One example is that the process uses the spiral methodology instead of waterfall. The book covers all phases of processes you might want to put in place in an OO project.

Unlike many OO process books for the past, this book keeps it feet on the ground and stays readable. Others in the past have usually drafted into obscure technical details.

The book has two problems. The first is that the prose is pretty stilted. Way too many sentences start with "The Rational Unified Process is". The other problem is that the book is geared around using the tools from Rational. However, it is possible to use most of the process without using the tools from Rational.

In summary, this book documents a pretty good OO design process in a very easy to understand way. If you are looking for an OO process to follow or are looking for ways to improve your existing one, this book is an excellent starting book.