Rational rethinks modeling tool for .Net
The company rejiggers its XDE Professional software-modeling tool, adding support for Microsoft's .Net plan. It should make writing code for Web services easier.
Rational on Monday spruced up its XDE Professional tool with support for Microsoft's Visual Basic.Net language and ASP.Net class library technology, which makes it easier to build complex Web-based business systems by handling much of the underlying plumbing.
XDE Professional, originally released in February, is a tool that allows software developers to "model"--or create graphical representations of--their software, so they need to write less code to build applications.
Rational has released three editions of the XDE tool: one that supports Microsoft's Visual Studio.Net tools suite, another that supports IBM's WebSphere Studio Java development tool, and a third that combines both the Java and .Net editions. .Net is Microsoft's overarching strategy for software design and Web services development.
The original version of XDE for .Net edition supported Microsoft's C# language. The new XDE--with the Visual Basic.Net and ASP.Net support--will ship within 30 days. A future iteration will support the C++ language, said Bill Taylor, Rational's director of developer marketing.
Rational also released or updated a handful of testing tools. Test RealTime, which tests, find bugs and fixes problems in software programs, now has support for Java in addition to the original C, C++ and Ada languages. Beyond this, the company has added support for the Linux operating system to PurifyPlus RealTime, used for analyzing a program while it is running. The RealTime tools can be used for embedded systems, such as computer systems used in cars, set-top boxes and cell phones, Rational executives said.
Meanwhile, Rational has also partnered with software maker CommerceQuest to build a tool--called MQTester for Rational--that tests the performance of IBM's MQ-based business messaging software.