The RAD paradigm becomes more, not less, important as we move from two-to three-tier development. Scott Hebner, IBM Software

A SAMPLING OF RAD TOOLS

C++ BUILDER -- C++ Based RAD
Borland International
100 Borland Way
Scotts Valley, CA 95066
800-233-2444
http://www.borland.com

Borland C++Builder 1.0 -- A C++ based RAD tool and 32-bit Windows development environment for creating Windows 95 and Windows NT applications.
PLATFORMS: Windows 95, Windows NT
PRICING: Borland C++Builder Client/Server Suite is $1,999. C++Builder Professional is $799. Borland C++Builder Standard is $99.95.

DELPHI 3 -- Proprietary RAD
Borland International:

Delphi 3 Client/Server Suite: One of the early successes in the RAD world, Delphi has recently received a new facelift . The language remains proprietary, but the envronment comes bundled with a ton of prebuilt object-oriented code and Borland's Midas 3-tiered development environment. Delphi supports ActiveX controls and the building Web-deployable apps.
PLATFORMS: Windows95, NT
PRICING: $1,995; Professional, $299; Standard, $99 1.3

BORLAND JBUILDER -- Java Based RAD
JBuilder Professional 1.0 and JBuilder Standard 1.0: Java-based visual development tool that supports 100% pure JavaBeans creation and ActiveX use as well as the JDBC, ODBC, and direct connect database access. Includes a library of JavaBeans components and supports the creation of new JavaBeans.
PLATFORMS: Windows 95 & NT 4.0/Intel Platforms
PRICING: $299.95 and $99.95, respectively. 1.4

FORTE -- Proprietary RAD
Forte Software
1800 Harrison St.
Oakland, CA 94612
1-800-903-6783
http://www.forte.com.
Forte Software, markets a series of products for developing, deploying and managing production applications in distributed environments, including client/server, multi-tier, and the Internet.
PRICING: $75,000 starter kit (first 5 developers, 10 runtime users) $4,000 - $6,000 per additional developer license $225 -$750 per additional concurrent run-time user $15,000 runtime server per 50 users.
PLATFORMS: Windows 95, Macintosh, Motif, NT, Digital Open VMS (VAX and Alpha), >Alpha/Digital UNIX, Data General AViiON, IBM/AIX, Sequent/DYNIX, >Sun/Solaris, SunOS, HP/UX, NT (Intel, Digital Alpha).

IBM VISUAL AGE FOR C++ -- C++ Based RAD
IBM Corp.
Armonk, NY
800-426-2255
www.software.ibm.com/ad/visualage
Visual Age for C++ for Windows: A C++ based RAD tool that uses a construction-from-parts approach that makes object relationships visible for those working in programming teams. Ships with a robust library of web-enabling parts.
PLATFORMS: Supports development of OS/2, Windows 95, Windows NT, AIX/Motif and Solaris/Motif. IBM's Open Class Library, which comprises the foundation classes for VisualAge, is already available on those platforms. It will also be available on OS/400 and MVS and HP/UX in the future. Development can be done on any of these platforms and ported to any other.
PRICING: $489

IBM VISUAL AGE FOR JAVA -- Java based RAD
IBM Corp.
1133 Westchester Avenue
White Plains, NY 10604
Phone: 800-IBM-3333 or 520-574-4600
http://www.software.ibm.com/ad/vajava/
IBM Visual Age for Java & VisualAge for Java Enterprise 1.0 are Java-based RAD tools that use a construction-from-parts approach that makes object relationships visible to those working in a programming team. Supports JavaBeans, JDBC and DB2 access and CICS transaction systems. The visual builder can be used to assemble Java Applets and JavaBeans components from parts shown on on a visual builder palette. Included source control system allows programmers to keep track of code changes.
PLATFORMS: Versions available for Intel, AS/400, SPARC, PowerPC, HP/9000; Windows 95/NT, Solaris, AIX, HP/UX and OS/2 platforms.
PRICING: $449 for Windows 95/NT version: $1,995 for Enterprise Version

MICROSOFT VB 5.0 -- Basic-based RAD
Microsoft
Redmond, Wash.
800-426-9400
http://www.microsoft.com
Visual Basic 5.0 is the best selling RAD tool by far. VB 5.0 adds a compiler to the the mix, thus speeding up executables and eliminating one of the largest shortcomings of all the previous versions.
PLATFORMS: Windows 95, Windows NT, Alpha processor version of Enterprise Edition due soon.
PRICING: $99, Learning Edition; $499, Professional Edition; $1,199, Enterprise Edition 1.9

MICROSOFT VISUAL J++ -- Java Based RAD
Microsoft Corporation
http://www.microsoft.com/visualj/
Microsoft Visual J++ Professional 1.1 is an Integrated Development Environment (IDE) with little RAD thrown in. Visual J++ straddles the Java and ActiveX worlds. Tuned to work well with ActiveX components. Can be used to wrap ActiveX components within a Java interface.
PLATFORMS: Windows 95, Windows NT
PRICING: $99. Also shipped as part of Microsoft's Visual Studio, which also includes Microsoft C++ Visual Basic and Foxpro products.

SYBASE POWERSOFT POWER ++ -- C++ Based RAD
Sybase Inc.
6475 Christie Ave.
Emeryville, CA 94608
Phone: 800-8-SYBASE or 510-922-3555
http://www.sybase.com/products
Power++ 2.0 & Powersoft Power++ 2.0 Enterprise Edition: Formerly Optima++, Power++ was the first C++ based RAD tool.
PLATFORMS: Windows 95 and Windows NT PRICING: $199 to $1,999 (for Power++ Enterprise Edition 2.0)

POWERSITE -- WEB-based RAD
Sybase Inc.
PowerSite Enterprise 1.0 is a RAD environment for building, managing, and deploying enterprise Web applications. A key component of the company's PowerStudio suite of open development tools for enterprise business applications. Designed to allow developers to quickly and easily create thin-client business applications using standard Web technologies such as HTML, Dynamic HTML, scripting languages and components including JavaBeans and Active X. Companies can then deploy these applications on the World Wide Web via leading Web application servers, including the newly released Powersoft PowerDynamo 2.0(tm), Sybase's application server for ultra-thin, database-driven Web applications over intranets, extranets and the Internet, as well as Microsoft IIS Active Server Pages and Netscape LiveWire. PowerSite's Component Manager features include: component re-use, version control (check-in/check-out), rollback recovery, and assignment of roles and levels of authorization through its integrated security management system. PowerSite can import or "slurp" existing sites into the Component Manager, empowering management control and allowing easy improvement and re-use of existing applications.
PLATFORMS: Windows 95 and NT
PRICING: $2,995 per developer seat

POWERJ -- Java based RAD
Sybase Inc.
PowerJ Enterprise 2.0 is a Java RAD tool that straddles the world of ActiveX and Java. Targetted at developers who are working on distributed enterprise applications. Provides support for both Common Object Request Broker Architecture (CORBA) technology and the Sybaset Jaguar CTS component transaction server. Resulting components can be packaged as JavaBeans component or CORBA-compliant object for easy deployment on the middle tier. Using the multi-component architecture of Jaguar CTS (included with PowerJ), application can simultaneously execute servlets built with ActiveX, Java/JavaBeans, and C/C++ native objects. PowerJ also lets you develop, debug, and deploy Web server applications with open support for the Microsoft Internet Server API (ISAPI), Netscape Server API (NSAPI), and Common Gateway Interface CGI). PLATFORMS: Hosted on Windows 95 or NT 4.0.
PRICING: $1,999

POWERBUILDER 6.0 -- Basic-based RAD
Sybase Inc.
PowerBuilder 6.0 is the grandaddy of all today's RAD tools, PowerBuilder used Basic as a scripting language log before Microsoft's more popular Visual basic arrived on the scene. Powerbuilder offers it's own RAD object architecture, but it also supports building applications using Microsoft's ActiveX components. PowerBuilder 6 also lets you output object code in C++ format. PowerBuilder Enterprise 6.0 adds new features for creating Web applications, key advancements in distributed development capabilities for creating multi-tier applications. Sybase bundles the Learning Edition of Riverton's HOW component-based application modeling tool with PowerBuilder Enterprise 6.0. HOW's graphical approach to component modeling and assembly, combined with its Distributed Business Component Framework (DBF), dramatically shortens the learning curve developers typically confront during this transition.
PLATFORMS: Windows 95, Windows NT, HP/UX and IBM AIX, Sun Solaris, and the MacOS
PRICING: $2,995 for PowerBuilder Enterprise. Desktop and Professional versions are $299 and $1,295 respectively.

SUN JAVA STUDIO -- Java based RAD
SunSoft/Sun Microsystems, Inc.
901 San Antonio Road
Palo Alto, CA 94303
800-JAVASOFT or 512-434-1591
www.sun.com/workshop/java/
Java Studio 1.02. Can you build applications without any programming whatsoever? That's what Java Studio aims to do. Comes with a set of over 50 business components, including charting, graphing, database access, forms and spreadsheet support. It also lets you import and export JavaBeans components from anywhere on the Web. You build your applications by assembing preexising objects. No programming or scripting support is provided. If you need this feature (in order to write your own custom module) you need to fall back to another tool. Sun recommends Java WorkShop for this role.
PLATFORMS: Sun Solaris, Windows 95, and Windows NT operating environments. applications created with Java Studio can run on any computer running a Java Virtual Machine (JVM).
PRICING: $99. Also bundled alog with Sun's Java WorkShop 2.0 IDE at a introductory price of $189.