Borland Software Wednesday used Microsoft’s VSLive! developer event in Orlando to launch Borland Together Edition for Microsoft Visual Studio .NET, an integrated design, modeling and code environment that aims to reduce complexity by automatically keeping models and code in synch when changes are made.
Together Edition, the product of more than a year of research and
development, is written in native C#. At its core is the Borland LiveSource technology, which simultaneously replicates changes to models in the code,
and vice versa. Borland said this ensures system architects and developers
are closely aligned in the development process, thereby reducing costs
associated with software rework.
Additionally, Borland said Borland LiveSource replaces the traditional
round-trip engineering methods, which usually cause models and code to go
out of synch. That’s a big issue, according to Gartner Group analyst Jim Duggan, who explained that failure to keep models and
code in synch often leads to disparity between business needs and resulting
software. That, in turn, can lead to failed delivery of line of business
services.
“The growing complexities of enterprise systems make development
visualization fundamental to avoiding failed delivery of line of business
services,” Duggan said. “In the past, the high learning curve associated
with UML
environments available to support it, made it difficult for organizations
to leverage modeling techniques for development on the Microsoft .NET
Framework. Our clients are looking for modeling capabilities that coexist
well with the rest of the Microsoft .NET platform. The new generations of
Object Oriented analysis and design environments for the Microsoft .NET
Framework are reducing the complexity of introducing modeling, and allowing
the development team to work in a consistent environment.”
In addition to Borland LiveSource, Together Edition has a number of other
key features. The technology features automated documentation, designed to
aid team collaboration in the development process. It also features
accelerated pattern support, providing application blueprints that help in
the reuse of existing software assets. Borland said Together Edition also
helps organizations to create and modify their own patterns.
Finally, Borland noted that it offers 100 percent managed code to ensure
deep integration with Visual Studio .NET and the Microsoft .NET Framework,
and its user interface is consistent with Visual Studio .NET in order to
reduce the learning curve for developers.
“Together Edition for Microsoft Visual Studio .NET offers advanced design
and modeling capabilities for Visual Studio .NET 2003,” said Marie Huwe,
general manager for the Developer and Platform Evangelism Division at
Microsoft. “Together Edition for Microsoft Visual Studio .NET delivers a
compelling modeling environment for enterprise customers focused on
productivity, quality, software asset reuse and team collaboration.”
Borland has made a full version of Together Edition available for free
download, with time-limited usage, on its Web site. The free download will
be available between Wednesday and Nov. 30, 2003.