RUP stands for Rational Unified Process. It is a methodology to develop software from the inception to the deployment. The software process starts with idea. Then the concepts of the system is derived from a pattern like observer pattern. Then comes the specification. The class diagrams are designed at this stage. This is followed by interaction diagrams like sequence diagrams and collaborative diagrams. The collaborative diagrams are not important as sequence.The collaboration diagrams are similar to sequence diagrams except that the collaboration diagrams shows the association between objects. The whole RUP can be put this way – inception, elaboration, construction and deployment.
The activity diagrams is a behavioral diagram where the behavior of the system is drawn as work flow. It can have parallel behavior unlike the flowchart. The last diagram is the deployment diagram.
RUP Vs XP
The XP suits smaller projects. The IBM RUP suits larger projects. RUP is iterative, still it looks similar to waterfall method of development. There is good control of changes. The Agile Development Methodology accepts changes while in RUP it is controlled.