This Toolsuite will offer IDE integration based on published
and standardized interfaces (today we think about integrations in Eclipse, JBuilder and
Netbeans).
To minimize the costs of development and at the same time as a sign of our believe in
the special value of open source software development we would like to intensivly reuse
and integrate existing open source systems.
Since Apaches project Cactus develops software for the unit test of Java server
applications, we will orient particularly towards Cactus.
The development of special tools for the test process is always an investment. Its
return can hardly be measured (The value of an existing test tool can be easily be
estimated in comparison with costs of manual execution of tests.). Often a tool
development runs out of a projects initially planned budget and is cancelled by the
management in the planning phase. We dont't have a budget anyway so we have to look for
remarkable cost reductions.
Bugkillas tools will only be implemented by not reinventing some wheels to often. Thats
why usage and development of test tools in the Bugkilla project strictly follows some
rules:
- Define clearly what is a tools job.
- There is always a "tool doing the job right". A project team has to find out,
how to use it right.
- If no "tool doing the job right" could be found by the team, the extension of
a tool found during the evaluation is the solution.
- Integration of "tools doing their jobs right" is the key to lasting success.
Rule 2 implies that a project team has to search for a tool with a clear goal (implied
by rule 1). Either the search is rewarded with success or
Rule 3 can be followed with the withdrawn candidates. We follow this procedure because
we strongly believe that in almost every case "Buy is better than Make". The
relation between rule 1 and 4 is, if there is need for a tool it is important to define
the requirements for it in a very clear way first. Features of tools are often a kind of
marketing as they produce new needs by their users. Let the "tool doing the job
right" satisfy your requirements and do not use the triggering tool blindfolded by
"its cool ideas".
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