Mylyn task-focused interface for Eclipse gets upgraded

InfoWorld - Tasktop Technologies, lead developer of the Eclipse Mylyn task-focused interface for the Eclipse platform, will offer Monday upgrades to both Mylyn and the company's Tasktop Pro tool to integrate Mylyn with commercial ALM (application life-cycle management) tools.

Mylyn, according to Eclipse, reduces information overload and makes multitasking easy by making tasks a "first-class" part of Eclipse. The technology also integrates rich and offline editing for repositories such as Bugzilla, Trac, and JIRA.

[ Check out InfoWorld's report on the Eclipse Galileo technology release train. ]

"It gives developers focus so they see only the code relevant to what they're doing, and it gives them one-click multitasking," said Mik Kersten, CEO at Tasktop.

With Monday's 3.3 release of the open-source Mylyn platform, support is being added for C and C++ development. "C and C++ developers get the one-click multitasking when they're working on C and C++ code," such as developers building Symbian mobile applications, Kersten said. Mylyn already has supported development in Java.

Mylyn is offering a standard tool, said Jeffrey Hammond, principal analyst for application development at Forrester Research.

"A task-focused interface that connects Eclipse with change requests and SCM (software configuration management) change sets has traditionally been the exclusive domain of high-end ALM tools from ISVs like IBM and Borland (now Micro Focus). What Mylyn does is create a de facto standard that anyone can plug into, even with low-cost open source tools like Subversion or Bugzilla," Hammond said.

The vast majority of Eclipse developers have downloaded Mylyn, said Kersten. Mylyn can be accessed at Eclipse's Web page.

Tasktop also will release version 1.6 of its $99-per-seat Tasktop Pro tool, for ALM integration for Mylyn. The tool includes Mylyn. Version 1.6 integrates Mylyn with tools such as IBM Rational ClearQuest and ClearCase and Thoughtworks Studios. Previously, Tasktop Pro has offered integrations with tools like Rally.

Version 1.6 also tracks time spent on development tasks. Developers also can link to repositories, linking between Tasktop-certified tools.

"For example, you can link a user story in Rally to defects in ClearQuest," Kersten said.

A wider range of desktop and office documents can be retrieved and collaborated on via version 1.6. Also, Web-based documentation and wikis can be  linked to development tasks.

Tasktop also offers Tasktop Enterprise edition for $199 per user, which will feature enhanced support and additional integration for ClearQuest.

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