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New Eclipse Project Addresses Automated Software Quality

New Eclipse Project Addresses Automated Software Quality

Final – For Release December 17, 2002

New Eclipse Project Addresses Automated Software Quality

  • Open-source framework is basis for extending development platform to support deployment evaluation
  • “Project Hyades” Builds upon Eclipse Modeling Framework

December 17, 2002. Eclipse has launched a new open-source project focused on full lifecycle integration of advanced test and trace facilities for Automated Software Quality. Eclipse member companies IBM, Parasoft, Rational Software, Scapa Technologies and Telelogic have organized the project. The Hyades project framework will make it easier to integrate a broad range of functional verification, quality assessment and load testing tools with the Eclipse Platform’s workbench and other tools. The Eclipse Platform and information on Project Hyades, the Eclipse Automated Software Quality evaluation framework, are immediately available from http://www.eclipse.org.

Eclipse is a universal tools platform, now in its second major release. Recent enhancements include internationalization features for worldwide use, and new tools integration support for development workstations running QNX(r) on Intel X86(r) based computers, Sun Solaris(r) on SPARC(r) workstations, HP-UX(r) on HP9000(r) PA-RISC workstations, IBM AIX(r) on PowerPC(r) workstations and support for Windows(r) and Linux(r) on Intel X86(r) based computers.

Developers need more comprehensive tools to help resolve issues commonly encountered with today’s complex projects. Project Hyades includes several extensions to the core Eclipse Platform that ease the integration of these tools. The core of this work starts with technology donated to Eclipse, and into open-source by IBM and Scapa Technologies. Parasoft and others are planning to donate additional code assets.

Hyades is the first of many projects that will lead to establishing an “I*E”, or integrated “Everything” environment that take tools integration beyond the confines of a traditional IDE to full lifecycle support for projects. Hyades and the Eclipse platform it is based upon will not replicate offerings from other test and trace domains. Separate Hyades based ASQ offerings will work with other best of breed development tools through Eclipse.

With a shared framework of open integration technology, Hyades supports better tool interoperability and helps developers avoid vendor lock-in, stimulating enhanced competition. As a basic integration framework, Hyades does not specify a testing methodology, leaving the flexibility and plenty of scope for services companies to add value. This will allow Hyades based tools to cover a full range of Automated Software Quality assurance processes from static code analysis through automated functional testing and deployment performance testing.

Hyades will implement an OMG defined UML testing profile in which Test Case, Test Trace, Test Objective and Verification artifacts are maintained. Test objectives related to performance and scalability can be evaluated for a range of real world deployment environments, including alternate mixes of server and network interconnection technologies. New approaches to quality assessment testing that link the initial requirements definition, object oriented model of the application, and test management evaluation tools will also be supported. Companies, projects and individuals interested in collaborating with members of Project Hyades should participate through the Eclipse open-source community website. Details are at: http://eclipse.org/hyades.

The Eclipse community creates open-source technology as a universal platform for tools integration. Eclipse based tools give projects freedom of choice in a multi-language, multi-platform, multi-vendor supported environment. Eclipse delivers a plug-in based framework that makes it easier to create, integrate and use software tools, saving time and money. Over 35 new offerings powered by Eclipse technology and more than 100 independent open-source projects have been introduced in recent months.

About the Name “Hyades”
Hyades is one of the largest open star clusters visible. It outlines the head of constellation Taurus. The Hyades cluster’s unique position and distribution has enabled astronomers to measure the universe.

What the Participants Are Saying About Hyades
“In today’s multi-platform, multi-vendor world, the costs to deploy and maintain an application often surpass the cost of the original development efforts,” said Lee Nackman, Vice President of Application Development Tools, IBM Software Group. “As this new open-source project forms, IBM is contributing our technology and skill to extend Eclipse to provide a framework that supports ongoing testing of deployment and maintenance environments.”

“The Hyades project is significant because it addresses quality assurance practices throughout development, deployment, testing, and management, including static code analysis, functional testing and performance testing,” said Dr. Adam Kolawa, Parasoft CEO. “Parasoft, along with other leading vendors, is contributing technology and expertise that will allow Eclipse users to easily plug in tools that prevent errors and ensure application reliability through each stage of the software lifecycle.”

“The Hyades project will give users an integrated platform for testing, runtime analysis, and application monitoring, with a shared user interface, information model and data collection framework,” said Dave Bernstein, senior vice president of products, Rational Software. “This open platform will support interoperation among tools developed by participating vendors as well as by users themselves.”

“The practical difficulties and costs of using test tools are significant barriers to the adoption of good practice in software development and systems integration,” said Dr. Mike Norman, CEO Scapa Technologies, “By using Eclipse to provide interoperability amongst test tools and to bind test tools into the wider software tools environment, the Hyades project will reduce the costs of testing and test tools and allow more people to deliver software that is better tested”

“Creating a testing platform that integrates test models based on UML, ensures interoperability and supports rapid, accurate testing of system and software. By leveraging emerging standards in this area, we advance the Eclipse platform and provide further support for standards-based development and testing,” said Tony Chang, Vice President of Product Development for Telelogic Synergy and Telelogic’s representative to the Eclipse board. “Eclipse users will benefit from the openness but also from the strength of the platform and the underlying standards.”

Industry Comments:
“The interoperability of test and trace tooling, which is at the heart of the Hyades project, will provide significant benefits to IBM and its customers” said Harm Sluiman, Senior Technical Staff Member, IBM Corporation. “It will stimulate competition amongst test and trace tools vendors, reducing vendor lock-in and allowing vendors to initiate a new wave of innovation in the sector”

“It is extremely significant that the Hyades project works with existing and emerging standards” said Ina Schieferdecker of the Fraunhofer Institute for Open Communication Systems (FOKUS) “In addition to its use of Java (including JSRs 26, 47 and 163) the key meta-model that provides interoperability among test tools in Hyades is an implementation of a standard test profile that we are developing through the OMG.”

“The Hyades project is a major step for Eclipse, adding deployment evaluation functionality to the original Integrated Development Environment (IDE), and is the first major step to Eclipse becoming an Integrated Everything Environment or I*E” said Skip McGaughey, chairperson of the Eclipse board of stewards, “In a reflection of the open collaboration and global nature of Eclipse, Hyades involves a wide range of Eclipse members, with participants from both Europe and North America.”

About Eclipse
Eclipse is an open-source community that creates technology and a universal platform for tools integration. The open-source Eclipse community creates royalty-free technology as a platform for tools integration. Eclipse based tools give developers freedom of choice in a multi-language, multi-platform, multi-vendor supported environment. Eclipse delivers a plug-in based framework that makes it easier to create, integrate and use software tools, saving time and money. By collaborating and sharing core integration technology, tool producers can concentrate on their areas of expertise and the creation of new development technology. The Eclipse Platform is written in the Java(tm) language, and comes with extensive plug-in construction toolkits and examples. It has already been deployed on a range of development workstations including Linux(r), QNX(r) and Windows(r) based systems. Full details of the Eclipse community and white papers documenting the design of the Eclipse Platform are available at http://www.eclipse.org.

Brand or product names are registered trademarks or trademarks of their respective holders. Java and all Java-based trademarks are trademarks or registered trademarks of Sun Microsystems, Inc. in the United States and other countries. Microsoft, Windows is a trademark of Microsoft Corporation in the United States, other countries, or both.

Melanie Woods
Marcomms Manager
Scapa Technologies
www.scapatech.com

Tel: +44 131 652 3939
Fax: +44 131 652 3299
Email: [email protected]

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