Rapid application development (RAD), is a software development process developed initially by James Martin in 1991. The methodology involves iterative development, and the construction of prototypes. Traditionally the rapid application development approach involves compromises in usability, features, and/or execution speed. It is described as a process through which the development cycle of an application is expedited. Rapid Application Development thus enables quality products to be developed faster, saving valuable resources.
Pros
1. Increased speed of development through methods including rapid prototyping, virtualization of system related routines, and other techniques.
2. Decreased end-user functionality (arising from narrower design focus), hence reduced complexity
3. Larger emphasis on simplicity and usability of GUI design
Cons
1. Reduced Scalability, and reduced features when a RAD developed application starts as a prototype and evolves into a finished application
2. Reduced features occur due to time boxing when features are pushed to later versions in order to finish a release in a short amount of time [citation needed]
3. The data needs to already exist
Cross-Platform Rapid Application Development Tools
* Boa constructor is a cross-platform, wxPython based Python RAD IDE.
* IBM Rational Business Developer Extension is a cross-platform, Rapid Application Development IDE for creating enterprise and web applications and services for Windows, Linux, Unix (Solaris, HPUX, AIX), System z and System i
* IBM Rational Application Developer is a cross-platform, Rapid Application Development IDE for creating enterprise and web applications and services for Windows, Linux and Unix (Solaris, HPUX, AIX)
* LANSA
* Lazarus is a cross-platform IDE similar to Borland Delphi.
* NetBeans
* Omnis Studio is a cross-platform, Rapid Application Development tool or IDE for creating enterprise and web applications for Windows, Linux, Solaris, and Mac OS X.
* OpenROAD is a cross-platform IDE for Linux/Unix, Windows with embedded SQL support
* REALbasic is a cross-platform IDE for creating desktop applications for Windows, Linux and Mac OS X.
* Runtime Revolution is a cross-platform RAD which creates desktop applications for Mac Classic, Mac OS X, Windows 98/Me/XP/Vista, and various flavors of Linux.
* Web Dynpro is SAP's RAD to create web applications connected to function modules in mySAP ERP.
[edit] Desktop Rapid Application Development Tools
* CodeGearC++ Builder
* CodeGear Delphi programming language
* Gambas
* Gupta Team Developer / SQLWindows
* Microsoft Visual Basic
* Runtime Revolution
* REAL software REALbasic
* wxDev-C++
* Microsoft Visual Foxpro
* WinDev
* RosAsm
[edit] Database Rapid Application Development Tools
* Clarion is a data-centric Advanced Rapid Application Development (ARAD) tool featuring roundtrip code generation that preserves all of your own hand-written code while allowing you to re-generate your application as often as needed. It provides reusable metadata to quickly create "corporate quality" applications to manage business data
* IBM Rational Business Developer Extension supports database application development for IBM DB2, IBM Informix, Oracle database, Microsoft SQL Server and other JDBC compliant relational databases
* IBM Rational Application Developer supports database application development for IBM DB2, IBM Informix, Oracle database, Microsoft SQL Server and other JDBC compliant relational databases
* IBM Lotus Notes is a RAD environment for collaboration and document management tasks
* FileMaker
* Sybase PowerBuilder
* Oracle Forms
* The Brainwave Platform the product is a database driven rapid application development platform, the components of which include an application server, a widgets library, a web services protocol and a BPM engine.
* NConstruct is Windows and Web rapid enterprise application development tool and environment for .NET framework. It supports Oracle database, Microsoft SQL Server databases and Microsoft Access.
[edit] Embedded Control Rapid Application Development Tools
* VisSim is a block diagram language for model based embedded system development
* LabVIEW is a graphical programming language that allows you to program embedded off-the-shelf systems, FPGAs, custom designs
[edit] Web Based Rapid Application Development Tools
* Ruby on Rails sponsored by 37signals
* CakePHP
* Symfony
* Adobe ColdFusion
* IBM Rational Business Developer Extension is a cross-platform, Rapid Application Development IDE for creating enterprise and web applications and services for Windows, Linux, Unix (Solaris, HPUX, AIX), System z and System i
* iRise Studio is a rapid prototyping and simulation solution that lets non-technical users create fully functioning prototypes using a drag-n-drop interface.
* GForge Advanced Server a full software development process platform for complete project management and collaboration tool suite with tracking plug-ins for Eclipse IDE as well as Microsoft Visual Studio and other related tools were added to increase developer functionality.
* Oracle Application Development Framework uses Oracle's JDeveloper a FREE IDE that supports ADF's J2EE based framework.
* Django
* LibreSource
* WebDev
* AlphaFive all-in-one application development environment, received the Computer Reseller News Database of the Year and PC Magazine's Editors' Choice awards. From alphasoftware.com
* NConstruct is Windows and Web rapid enterprise application development tool and environment for .NET framework.
* Skyway Visual Workspace is an XML-based modeling development and deployment tool for creating SOA-centric, JEE standard web applications more quickly and more accurately than hand coding.
[edit] Components based on Rapid Application Development paradigm
* Add-in Express – Visual RAD tool for developing COM add-ins, smart tags, RTD servers and Excel user defined functions in Visual Studio .NET and Delphi.