updated 3/11/97
Overview
The Rhapsody Developer FAQ is an on-going document designed to answer
development questions about Rhapsody. Questions and answers
will be added on a regular basis as answers are obtained, with the document
posted to the Apple Developer World website:
http://www.devworld.apple.com.
Should you have a development question concerning Rhapsody, please send an
e-mail to: rhapsody-dev-feedback@apple.com.
Yellow Box/OpenStep
Q: Will Rhapsody deliver more robust system services?
A: Yes, the Rhapsody core operating system is based on a very mature and
robust foundation that includes full preemptive multitasking,
address space protection, and high performance I/O. The OpenStep
application model is based on a solid object design and is fully
reentrant--offering a rich collection of services for building innovative
solutions.
Q: What is the future of SOM?
A: OpenStep is based on the Objective C language, which implements an
object model and runtime system that provides similar services to
SOM. Applications will never suffer from the "fragile base-class" problem
when building Objects from OpenStep base classes.
As SOM evolves with Mac OS releases, those capabilities will be delivered
in the Rhapsody as part of the Mac OS compatibility environment
(Blue Box).
Q: Will AppleEvent performance be improved in future Mac OS releases as was
(the plan) for Copland?
A: We understand that the performance of AppleEvents can be improved for
Mac OS as we demonstrated with Copland. We hope to address
this in an upcoming Mac OS release, but have no details at this time. Also,
we do expect to offer AppleEvents for Rhapsody's OpenStep
environment that will offer high performance.
Q: Will MacApp (and) ODF frameworks evolve into Rhapsody's OpenStep
environment?
A: MacApp and ODF-based solutions will certainly be compatible in the
Rhapsody Blue Box. Metrowerks has also indicated that their
CodeWarrior Latitude product will be capable of compiling MacApp and
PowerPlant solutions to the Rhapsody OpenStep/Yellow Box.
Q: If I am about to start a new project what programming language should I
use? Objective C, C++, Java?
A: That depends on your product and your schedules. With Rhapsody, we will
deliver a tightly integrated Java VM that will be able to utilize
the OpenStep services.
We expect that many applications will use a variety of programming
languages. Many will stick with C++, and we are working with
Metrowerks to ensure that C++ is a viable language for Rhapsody
development. Objective C is the standard language used by OpenStep
developers today but over the long haul, we expect more and more products
to be written in Java for this platform.
There certainly will be a variety of options for programming languages and
the choice will largely rest in your hands.
Q: Will AppleScript be available for Rhapsody development?
A: Scripting remains a very important technology for Apple in the areas of
publishing and web authoring. The Mac OS compatibility
environment (Blue Box) will offer AppleScript and we understand the
importance of having a scripting architecture for Rhapsody.
Q: If you choose to develop applications to run in the Yellow Box, what
services will be able to run in the Blue?
A: The Blue Box is Mac OS with all of the services available to Mac OS
developers. We don't plan on moving OpenStep APIs to Mac OS.
Q: With TextEdit, what kind of performance can we expect?
A: OpenStep provides a very rich collection of text services that can be
used for high performance text intensive applications. These services
are far richer than TextEdit.
Q: What about Help support on OpenStep?
A: We are investigating several options for a Rhapsody help system. At this
time, we cannot make any formal statements.
Q: What will happen to resources?
A: Resources remain a key aspect of the Mac OS and therefore, the Blue Box.
OpenStep uses a different technique to achieve the same benefit
of separating user interfaces from the implementation.
General Development Issues
Q: Will Rhapsody applications run on existing versions of OpenStep for NT,
Mach, and Solaris?
A: The modern application environment for Rhapsody will consist of a
superset of today's OpenStep APIs, so applications written today on
OpenStep will run on Rhapsody in addition to OpenStep for NT, Mach, and
Solaris. We intend to continue to drive the evolution of OpenStep
across multiple platforms.
Main | Top of Section | What's New | Apple
Computer, Inc. | Find It | Feedback | Help
Apple Developer World is a trademark
of Apple Computer, Inc.
Copyright Apple Computer, Inc.
Maintained online by
devworldwebmaster@apple.com
Updated Tuesday, January 7, 1997 by
Marilyn Pesta
This page was last modified on Wednesday,
April 02 1997 02:09
-
Nobody really cared if Apple tanked it,
but now if Apple tanks it, it also tanks NeXT,
and we're going to do everything in our power
to make sure that doesn't happen. ... anonymous NeXT employee
<> tbyars@earthlink.net <>
888-257-4272/message
310-934-5104/pager