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Date:      Thu, 17 Oct 2002 15:47:40 +0100
From:      Matthew Seaman <m.seaman@infracaninophile.co.uk>
To:        freebsd-chat@FreeBSD.ORG
Cc:        Jonathon McKitrick <jcm@FreeBSD-uk.eu.org>
Subject:   Re: 'Coolest' development tool of the day??
Message-ID:  <20021017144740.GG88261@happy-idiot-talk.infracaninophi>
In-Reply-To: <20021017122541.GA44453@dogma.freebsd-uk.eu.org>
References:  <20021012033923.GA91466@dogma.freebsd-uk.eu.org> <6B128304-DDF7-11D6-AF4A-000393A335A2@earthlink.net> <20021012163529.GA36537@happy-idiot-talk.infracaninophi> <20021017122541.GA44453@dogma.freebsd-uk.eu.org>

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On Thu, Oct 17, 2002 at 01:25:41PM +0100, Jonathon McKitrick wrote:
> On Sat, Oct 12, 2002 at 05:35:29PM +0100, Matthew Seaman wrote:
> | On Sat, Oct 12, 2002 at 11:29:37AM -0400, Larry Sica wrote:
> | 
> | > Does OSX count ;).  I've been looking at Project Builder under OS X and 
> | > I like it.  Too bad there is no FreeBSD port.  That said, on FreeBSD I 
> | > use a combination of nedit, make, gtkdiff and tkcvs.  I haven't.  I 
> | > tried Kdevelop and it is not bad either imho.
> | 
> | http://www.gnustep.org/, particularly
> | http://www.gnustep.org/experience/ProjectCenter.html
> | 
> | Ports: devel/gnustep
> 
> It looks cool, but do you have to switch to Objective C?
> How long has this tool been around?  I'm surprised I haven't heard of it
> before.

Oh, since before the Apple --- NeXT merger: something like '96 or '97
I think.  The impetus was provided by NeXT publishing the OpenStep
specification when they were trying to do a deal with Sun and get an
OpenStep desktop onto Solaris.  I remember mucking about with a beta
version running on Solaris 2.6 on an Ultra 5 --- it was quite usable
if a bit slow and clunky compared to NeXTSTEP running native on the
same hardware.  The whole project was hampered by some daft design
decisions, like trying to layer the whole OpenStep display postscript
thing on top of X-Windows.  Experience has shown that it's far better
to provide X functionality by using a rootless X display on top of the
DPS layer (or DPDF in MacOS X).

Ultimately the Solaris/Openstep project was canned in favour of
devoting resources to this upstart little language called Java ---
ironic in many ways: the semantics of Objective-C and Java are very
similar, even if the syntax is pretty different.  Which is because one
of the very early Java developers started out as a NeXT-head and he
heavily based his work on Obj-C.  So much so that MacOS X Project
Builder can use either Obj-C or Java interchangably to interface to
the standard object libraries.

If Sun had had their collective heads together, they could have been
shipping a Java based desktop environment with all that NeXTy goodness
before the millenium and they might still have had a toehold in the
desktop market today...

	Cheers,

	Matthew

-- 
Dr Matthew J Seaman MA, D.Phil.                       26 The Paddocks
                                                      Savill Way
                                                      Marlow
Tel: +44 1628 476614                                  Bucks., SL7 1TH UK

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