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NeXTSTEP

  • ️Mon Sep 07 2009
NeXTSTEP
NeXTSTEP desktop.jpg
Nextstep graphical user interface
Company / developer NeXT
Programmed in C, Objective-C
OS family Unix-like
Working state Historic – is code base for Mac OS X
Source model Closed source
Latest stable release 3.3 / 1995
Supported platforms Motorola 68000, Intel x86, SPARC, PA-RISC
Kernel type Hybrid
Default user interface Graphical
License Proprietary EULA

NeXTSTEP (also written NeXTstep, NeXTStep, and NEXTSTEP[1]) is the object-oriented, multitasking operating system developed by NeXT Computer to run on its range of proprietary workstation computers, such as the NeXTcube, and later, other computer architectures.

NeXTSTEP 1.0 was released on September 18, 1989, after several previews starting in 1986[citation needed]. The last version, 3.3, was released in early 1995, by which time it ran not only on the Motorola 68000 family processors used in NeXT computers, but also Intel x86, Sun SPARC, and HP PA-RISC-based systems. Apple's Mac OS X is a direct descendant of NeXTSTEP.

Description

NeXTSTEP was a combination of several parts:

NeXTSTEP was notable for the last three items. The toolkits offered considerable power, and were used to build all of the software on the machine. Distinctive features of the Objective-C language made the writing of applications with NeXTSTEP far easier than on many competing systems, and the system was often pointed to as a paragon of computer development, even a decade later.

NeXTSTEP's user interface was refined and consistent, and introduced the idea of the Dock, carried through OpenStep and into Mac OS X, and the Shelf. NeXTSTEP also created or was among the very first to include a large number of other GUI concepts now common in other operating systems: 3D "chiseled" widgets, large full-color icons, system-wide drag and drop of a wide range of objects beyond file icons, system-wide piped services, real-time scrolling and window dragging, properties dialog boxes ("inspectors"), window modification notices (such as the saved status of a file), etc. The system was among the first general-purpose user interfaces to handle publishing color standards, transparency, sophisticated sound and music processing (through a Motorola 56000 DSP), advanced graphics primitives, internationalization, and modern typography, in a consistent manner across all applications.

Additional kits were added to the product line to make the system more attractive. These included Portable Distributed Objects (PDO), which allowed easy remote invocation, and Enterprise Objects Framework, a powerful object-relational database system. The kits made the system particularly interesting to custom application programmers, and NeXTSTEP had a long history in the financial programming community.

Naming

The name was officially capitalized in many different ways, initially NextStep, then NeXTstep, and also NeXTSTEP. It became NEXTSTEP (all capitals) only at the end of its life. The capitalization most commonly used by "insiders" is NeXTSTEP. The confusion continued after the release of the OpenStep standard, when NeXT released what was effectively an OpenStep-compliant version of Nextstep with the name OPENSTEP.

Influence

The first web browser, WorldWideWeb, was developed on the Nextstep platform.

"1990 CERN: A Joint proposal for a hypertext system is presented to the management. Mike Sendall buys a NeXT cube for evaluation, and gives it to Tim [Berners-Lee]. Tim's prototype implementation on NeXTStep is made in the space of a few months, thanks to the qualities of the NeXTStep software development system. This prototype offers WYSIWYG browsing/authoring! Current Web browsers used in "surfing the Internet" are mere passive windows, depriving the user of the possibility to contribute. During some sessions in the CERN cafeteria, Tim and I try to find a catching name for the system. I was determined that the name should not yet again be taken from Greek mythology. Tim proposes "World-Wide Web". I like this very much, except that it is difficult to pronounce in French..." by Robert Cailliau, 2 November 1995. [2]

Some features and keyboard shortcuts now commonly found in web browsers can be traced to Nextstep conventions. The basic layout options of HTML 1.0 and 2.0 are attributable to those features available in NeXT's Text class[3]. The level editor for the game Doom was also developed on NeXT machines[4], as was Altsys Virtuoso, version 2 of which was ported to Mac OS and Windows to become Macromedia FreeHand version 4, the modern "Notebook" interface for Mathematica, and the advanced spreadsheet Lotus Improv. The software that controlled MCI's Friends and Family program was developed using Nextstep[5][6].

About the time of the 3.2 release, NeXT teamed up with Sun Microsystems to develop OpenStep, a cross-platform object-oriented API standard derived from Nextstep. Implementations of that standard were released for Sun's Solaris, Windows NT, and NeXT's version of the Mach kernel. NeXT's implementation was called OPENSTEP for Mach and its first release (4.0) superseded Nextstep 3.3 on NeXT, Sun and Intel IA-32 systems.

Following an announcement on December 20, 1996[7], on February 4, 1997, Apple Computer acquired NeXT for $429 million, and used the OPENSTEP for Mach operating system as the basis for Mac OS X[8].

A free software implementation of the OpenStep standard, GNUstep, also exists.

Release history

Version Date Notes
0.8 October 12, 1988
0.8a 1988
0.9 1988 first available version; for NeXT hardware only
1.0 1989
1.0a 1989
2.0 September 18, 1990
2.1 March 25, 1991
2.1a
2.2
3.0 September 8, 1992[9]
3.1 May 25, 1993 Support for the i486, PA-RISC, and SPARC architectures.
3.2 October 1993
3.3 February 1995 Last and most popular version released under the name Nextstep
4.0 (beta) 1996 Beta circulated to limited number of developers before OpenStep and Apple acquisition

Versions up to 3.3 were published.

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Ford, Kevin (2008). "What's with all the NeXT names?". www.kevra.org. http://www.kevra.org/TheBestOfNext/DifferentNeXTSpellings/DifferentNeXTSpellings.html. Retrieved 2009-09-07.
  2. ^ Roads and Crossroads of Internet History Chapter 4: Birth of the Web
  3. ^ Tim Berners-Lee: WorldWideWeb, the first Web client
  4. ^ John Romero of id Software talks about development of Doom on NeXT
  5. ^ "MCI used NeXT software to power its revolutionary Friends and Family networking referral campaign, which other rivals couldn't match for years."
  6. ^ [1]
  7. ^ Apple Computer, Inc. (1996-12-20). "Apple Computer, Inc. Agrees to Acquire NeXT Software Inc.". Press release. http://web.archive.org/web/19970301172356/http://live.apple.com/next/961220.pr.rel.next.html.
  8. ^ Linzmayer, Owen W. (1999). Apple Confidential: The Real Story of Apple Computer, Inc.
  9. ^ NeXT Ships NeXTSTEP Release 3.0, Third Generation of the Complete Object-Oriented Environment

References

This article was originally based on material from the Free On-line Dictionary of Computing, which is licensed under the GFDL.

External links

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