RAD (rapid application development) is a concept that products can be developed
faster and of higher quality through:
Gathering requirements using workshops or focus groups
Prototyping and early, reiterative user testing of designs
The re-use of software components
A rigidly paced schedule that defers design improvements to the next
product version
Less formality in reviews and other team communication
Some companies offer products that provide some or all of the tools for RAD
software development. (The concept can be applied to hardware development as
well.) These products include requirements gathering tools, prototyping tools,
computer-aided software engineering tools, language development
environments such as those for the Java platform, groupware for communication
among development members, and testing tools. RAD usually embraces
object-oriented programming methodology, which inherently fosters software
re-use. The most popular object-oriented programming languages, C++ and Java,
are offered in visual programming packages often described as providing rapid
application development.
