I am not an Apple user but I do enjoy the history of computers -- which (obviously) the timeline will reach the likes of Steve Jobs and Apple. As much as people give high praise to Steve and the rise of Apple... I personally value Steve more regarding his work on NeXT more.<p>To be honest, as someone who was into SGI computers as a kid, accepting the reality I would NEVER be able to own one, I hoped one day I would get to use or try one in the workplace. Of course, by then, technology had moved and these expensive machines are now affordable, simple a Windows PC with a good graphics card!<p>Getting back to NeXT, I heard "Next" thrown about when reading up on ID Software (Doom, Quake, etc) but never really appreciated what this was until later on. When I finally spent the time to understand that this "Next" was a computer, I started to appreciate how cool it was especially back in 1990! It made me appreciate how far ahead they were with programming/development tools. I mean.. Visual Studio finally caught up with productivity.. like.. 10 years later!<p>It is great to see the history of NeXT continue -- not just being "merged" into Apple but with OpenSTEP and others.<p>It also makes me appreciate less known programming languages that, one day, could become "mainstream" at any point. Hardly anyone knew much about Objective-C but became a popular tool for Apple developers with OSX. Thats why I always have a grin when people mock a less known language because "hardly anyone uses it" or "hardly anyone knows about it" -- that could change, you know.
Related:<p>- Oral History of Blaine Garst [PDF]: <a href="https://archive.computerhistory.org/resources/access/text/2017/06/102717171-05-01-acc.pdf" rel="nofollow">https://archive.computerhistory.org/resources/access/text/20...</a><p>- Oral History of Blaine Garst [Video]: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qtEIq7fe_KQ" rel="nofollow">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qtEIq7fe_KQ</a><p>- Oral History of Steve Naroff [PDF]: <a href="https://archive.computerhistory.org/resources/access/text/2019/04/102717385-05-01-acc.pdf" rel="nofollow">https://archive.computerhistory.org/resources/access/text/20...</a><p>- Oral History of Steve Naroff [Video]: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ljx0Zh7eidE" rel="nofollow">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ljx0Zh7eidE</a>
> By the 1980s, the problems of cost and complexity in software remained unsolved.<p>We’re well into the 2020s and I’d say those problems have pretty much remained unsolved. ;)
I don't know how realistic is this video but it was interesting<p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UGhfB-NICzg" rel="nofollow">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UGhfB-NICzg</a><p>A sun vs next rapid development challenge.
Why do the words "Steve Jobs" and "programming" in the same sentence very slightly rub me the wrong way. Probably because one thing he wasn't, amongst all the superhuman things attributed to him by Apple zealots, is a programmer.
Also related, Alan Kay's Viewpoints Research Institute tried to build a system and application software in less than 20KLOC <a href="http://www.vpri.org/" rel="nofollow">http://www.vpri.org/</a>
This is very narrow history. Basically a history that excludes everything that isn't Jobs walk to glory and perfection and domination. Ignore many important points, problems, accidents, alternatives and so on.<p>NeXT used 'Display Postscript' a display server that was basically a inferior copy of Sun's NeWS system. This was later changed because NeXT was to small and Adobe didn't want to support Display Postscript anymore. Sun of course killed NeWS because they wanted to be a 'standard'. Next didn't care about standards. They had less applications then CDE Unix, and far lower deployment in the 90s.<p>Objective C is one of many language that you could use to build UI libraries on top of some display system. Objective C wasn't the best or inherently better then many others. Objective C adoption by Next was kind of a historical accident based on office location.<p>Having something VM based for UI development isn't actually that much of an issue, when the hardware manufacture delivers the OS with the VM included. And usually it his the hardware manufacture that delivers the OS. And VM bases system can be integrated well with the core OS, object oriented or not. And that VM are inherently to slow is also questionable, specially for UI apps that can use C libraries and the Display Server for the most performance relevant stuff.<p>Apple itself had a very nice system for UI development on Dylan that was arguable better in many way then the Next system. But when Steve Jobs came and they had Next, that wasn't developed anymore.<p>What Jobs showed of in the late 90s wasn't exactly revolutionary stuff. But Jobs always presents everything as revolutionary.<p>IPhone development in 2010 working the same as Next development in 1990 is a sign of 'failure', not of success.
So, this is why the abomination that is Obj-C is/was used for iPhone/Mac apps. I can't overstate how much I hate Obj-C. I'm so sooo happy Swift has pretty much entirely taken over.<p>Side note... I feel similarly about the Java to Kotlin transition. Sooo much better. Although, I don't hate Java NEARLY as much as Obj-C.