Microsoft previews 'Whitehorse' developer tools

[mazzy]

Microsoft released on Tuesday a preview version of new tools intended to make it easier for companies to create custom Web applications.

The software giant released a "community technology preview" version of modeling tools, formerly code-named Whitehorse, to be included in Visual Studio 2005 Team System, an upcoming addition to Microsoft's line of developer packages that focuses on enterprise developers.

The modeling tools are meant to give developers visual representations of Web applications, using detailed graphics to represent software components, said Prashant Sridharan, lead product manager for Microsoft. The idea is that making it easier for developers to see how programs are "wired" together will in turn result in more productive developers building better quality software.

"Traditionally, modeling tools have been very generic and have had little relation to the underlying code," he said. "It's pretty pictures that don't tell the actual developers much." That, in turn, leads to applications that don't meet expectations, or don't work as promised.

Modeling isn't a new idea in software development. But better tools and more powerful computers make it more practical than in previous years. Overall, interest in modeling and design is growing, as corporate customers grapple with increasingly complex computing systems

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