UML and RUP
In 1994, Rational merged with Verdix, a public company that produced a wide array of Ada compilers targeted to many architecture/OS combinations. The resulting entity was named "Rational Software", and promptly integrated the Rational Ada and C++ environments with the code generators and runtimes developed by Verdix.
In 1995, James Rumbaugh joined the company, and Rational acquired Ivar Jacobson's firm Objectory AB from Ericsson. With Grady Booch already aboard, this brought within one company three of the leading object-oriented software methodologists. These three experts attempted to unify their work. To eliminate the method fragmentation that they concluded was impeding commercial adoption of modeling tools, they developed Unified Modeling Language (UML), which provided a level playing field for all tool vendors. It was this collaboration effort that earned Rumbaugh, Jacobson and Booch the moniker "The Three Amigos" within the software engineering industry. At its 1.0 release, the Unified Modeling Language was contributed to the Object Management Group, which has managed its subsequent development.
Philippe Kruchten, a Rational techrep, was tasked with the assembly of an explicit process framework for modern software engineering. This effort combined the HTML-based process delivery mechanism employed by Objectory with Rational's 15-year experience base in working with customers developing significant software systems. The resulting "Rational Unified Process" (RUP) completed a strategic tripod:
- a tailorable process that guided development
- tools that automated the application of that process
- services that accelerated adoption of both the process and the tools.
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