The Rational Unified Process: An Introduction

by Philippe Kruchten

Book Overview

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...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0321197704
• ISBN13: 9780321197702
• Release Date: December 2003
• Publisher: Addison-Wesley Professional
• Length: 336 Pages
• Weight: 3.45 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 7.1" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

If you are interested in RUP, this is the place to start.

The Rational Unified Process (RUP) was originally developed by Rational Software, which was recently purchased by IBM. Therefore, you now see the RUP sometimes referred to as IBM's Web-enabled software engineering process. As this name implies, it is a set of guidelines, some soft and others fairly rigid to the point of being a rule, for the creation of software. Like all useful principles of computer science, the RUP is a dynamic entity, being constantly modified to reflect the changes taking place in software creation. Therefore, if you are already familiar with the RUP and are wondering if you should read this book, the answer is an emphatic yes. If you are unfamiliar with the RUP, the answer is an even more emphatic yes. The purpose of this book is to provide an introduction to RUP 2003, the latest iteration of the process. Like the previous books on RUP, it is written at a level suitable for managers. There is some necessary technical jargon, but nothing beyond what a software project development manager would be expected to be able to comprehend. The book opens with a history of the RUP, what it is used for and the overall structure of the RUP. This is followed by a very brief introduction to fundamental concepts such as iterative development, architecture-centric processes and use cases. Necessary for beginners, most of this material can be skipped by those having experience in those areas. Part II covers the various areas, referred to as disciplines. They are:* The project management discipline.* The business-modeling discipline.* The requirements discipline.* The analysis and design discipline.* The implementation discipline.* The test discipline.* The configuration and change management discipline.* The environment discipline.* The deployment discipline. While the steps used in the analysis differs from discipline to discipline, the following are common to all:* Purpose.* Roles and artifacts.* Workflow.* Tool support.* Summary.The tool support section is particularly helpful if you are evaluating the RUP for possible use in your organization. IBM/Rational has many tools that can aid you in your efficient use of the RUP. In fact, without software tools to aid you, much of the material in this book would be of theoretical interest only. Large software projects require an overall organizing process to be imposed on them if there is to be a chance for successful completion. The RUP is currently one of the best such processes and this book will show the fundamentals of the process and how it can work for you.

Definitive

First of all, please let me clarify something. In another review of mine (for the book "The Rational Unified Process Made Easy" of Kroll & Kruchten) I mentioned that there are 3 books on the RUP. Well, this might have been true in August of 2003, but it is not anymore: There are 3 more books on the RUP out there, namely:- "Adopting the Rational Unified Process"- "Software Development for Small Teams"- "Practical Software Engineering" (.NET-oriented)To be frank, I found the "Made Easy" book to a be a bit more fun than this one. Probably, because this book is more descriptive, whereas the "Made Easy" one is more normative. Having said that, I feel this book is the definitive book to have if you are working with the RUP, and a heck of a useful book to read even if you're not. Especially now that everything Rational has gained more leverage (because of the acquisition of Rational Software by IBM that gives RUP an arguably more powerful marketing mechanism and exposure, let alone its plausible gradual integration into the methodologies used by the 150,000-people-strong IBM Global Services organization), this book becomes even more relevant. There is a foreword by Grady Booch (one of the 3 amigos) that goes though a can-never-remember-how-many thousand mile view of the whole landscape, followed by a chapter by the author, who briefly goes through all the nice concepts (iterative development, architecture, etc.) that permeate the RUP. There is also a brief history of the RUP in this chapter that I found quite illuminating. I always like to know the historal context; it usually helps explain the rationale behind ideas and constructs.The next chapter, entitled "Static Structure", discusses the constituent concepts of the RUP, namely role, activity, artifact, workflow, discipline, deliberately ignoring for the moment the temporal dimension (for the most part). It is chapter 4, "Dynamic Structure", where the core concept of iterative development is expounded, and the expected contrast with the traditional waterfall is made (hence explaining the rationale for coming up with the perhaps-not-intuitive-at-first-glance idea of iterative development). Phases and milestones are explained.If there are three pillars of the RUP, these are (i) iterative development, (ii) executable architecture, and (iii) use-case driven development. Hence, it comes to no surprise that the next two chapters deal with architecture and use cases. In chapter 5 a mention is made, among other things, to the author's important work on the 4+1 Views of Architecture that underlies the RUP. Chapter 6 is a condensed discussion of the role and merit of use cases in a software development process in general, and RUP in particular.This concludes Part I of the book. Part II consists of 9 chapters, one for each RUP so-called discipline (Project Management, Business Modeling, Requirements, Analysis and Design, Implementation, Test, Configuration, Environment, Deployment). The "Made Easy" book foll

A fine, readable introduction

This book is an introduction to the Rational Unified Process (RUP). It is suitable for readers who have never heard of RUP before and for readers who have little experience with thoughtful analysis of software lifecycles. (I think it's also very useful as a quick, easy-to-read overview of RUP for more advanced readers, but you can read about that use of the book in other reviews.)I teach Computer Science at Florida Tech, including undergraduate and graduate courses in software testing. Krutchen provides a thoughtful but very readable, persuasive discussion of risks associated with different software lifecycles. In my experience as a teacher, my students' ability to appreciate differences among lifecycles and analyze them critically is significantly boosted by study and discussion of Krutchen. Accordingly, I require my students to read the relevant section of his book, they have detailed small-group discussions of it, and it often appears on their exam. This book is an introduction. It doesn't address all of the problems with RUP. It doesn't cover all of the areas of RUP equally well. It won't make any reader an expert in the process or its favored practices. It won't persuade someone who doesn't like RUP that they should like. What it does do is expose the reader to the thinking and practices that make up this particular approach to software engineering. This book is much deeper than marketing fluff, but not so deep as to lose a junior reader. As a teacher, I am delighted to have materials like this available.(Disclosure: a little bit of my work has been included in RUP, and I have developed a course for Rational on software testing within the Rational process. However, I identify more with the agile development / XP community than with the RUP community. In any case, the question that I'm interested in answering in this review is not whether RUP is any good -- it has its good points and its weaknesses -- but rather whether Krutchen's introduction to RUP is a fair and useful introduction to that subject matter. My conclusion is that it is.)

Much better read than Unified Software Development Process

This book is a much better read than the generic process described by the book named The Unified Software Development Process (UP). The Rational Unified Process (RUP) is a specific instance of the more generic UP. The RUP can be tailored to an organization or project and is considered a product offering by Rational Corp. Many big technology firms are using RUP to include major companies from Telecommunications, Transportation, Aerospace, Defense, Manufacturing, Financial Institutions, and System Integratrors. Some of the major well known companies include: Xerox, Intel, Oracle, Lockheed-Martin, Merrill Lynch, MCI and Charles Schwab.This book is easy to follow and very informative about a modern user-case driven, architecture centric, iterative/incremental development process. After an introduction to the whole process structure consisting of a Conception Phase, Elaboration Phase, Construction Phase and Transition Phase, each succeeding chapter covers a single workflow such as Business Modeling, Requirements Management, Analysis & Design, Implementation, Testing, Deployment, Configuration & Change Management, Project Management and Environment.This book is actually an enjoyable read and makes the reader aware of what it takes to develop software using an object-oriented software development process using a proven methodology.

A great quick reference and introduction to the RUP

I've been using the RUP since it's inception ( no pun intended ) and this is by far the most valuable reference I have on my desk at all times, ok the RUP web based product from Rational is better but that cost me $800 so if you can't get your hands on that just yet, get this book, you will be satisfied even if your are a seasoned RUPer like myself. For beginers, this is a MUST read, no other book will jump start you into the RUP like this one will. I will be putting up tons of articles and references as well as my own writings on the RUP on my website ( just type in my last name into your browser ;o) ) so check it out on Sep 1, 2000 when I release the new version. One more quick point, don't get Jacobson's "Unified Software Development Process" until you have read this book, even then I'd wait til the next edition comes out because the current one is somewhat out of date, but still useful if you're really into this stuff. Also, a great companion to this book is "eXtreme Programming explained, embrace change" by Kent Beck, for people who work at the forefront of technology such as myself, combining these two ways of developing applications will yield great results, I'll be writing several articles on this topic so check out my site for them...