Rapid Application Development (RAD)

Last Updated: December 6, 2018

Definition - What does Rapid Application Development (RAD) mean?

Rapid application development (RAD) is a suite of software development methodology techniques used to expedite software application development.

RAD uses predefined prototyping techniques and tools to produce software applications. It encompasses a graphical user interface (GUI) development environment, allowing end users to easily drag and drop required software application components.

Software RAD techniques employ computer-aided software engineering (CASE).

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Techopedia explains Rapid Application Development (RAD)

RAD is a popular software development methodology employing various tools and techniques to quickly produce minimally-coded software applications. RAD’s essence is prototyping - creating predefined components, structures and methods to quickly develop software models.

RAD’s working software prototypes lack full-scale functionality. They are used primarily for demonstration and requirement gathering, which helps end users envision entire solution stacks. RAD contains built-in and customizeable data, processes and organizational models. Thus, it employs a model-driven and object-oriented approach to developing complete solutions.