Re: Apple-ized Languages
Re: Apple-ized Languages
- Subject: Re: Apple-ized Languages
- From: Godfrey DiGiorgi <email@hidden>
- Date: Sat, 3 Jul 2004 20:14:28 -0700
On Jul 3, 2004, at 6:59 PM, Lotsa Cabo wrote:
A friend recently asked me to describe the major languages available on
the Mac and what one would use each for. Unfortunately, I have only
ventured in Java on the Mac (recent switcher) and could not answer the
question. He is thinking about trading in his Dell for a PowerBook and
do not want to screw up the answer.
Cocoa, Carbon, etc are not languages, they're APIs. Java is an
exception in this context as being both a language and an API standard.
From my perspective, it's difficult to say what "languages" Mac OS X
supports as it is really the other way around ... Language support is
delivered for Mac OS X APIs. As delivered from Apple, the Xcode Tools
supports the following compiled languages: C, C++, Objective-C. System
interfaces are delivered these languages allowing access to the Mac OS
X APIs: Carbon (C, C++), Cocoa (C, Objective-C, Java). IOKit and kernel
extensions are other APIs specific to Mac OS X, serviced by a subset of
C++, C and assembly language.
Additional compiled languages are available from other vendors...
amongst others:
BASIC and BASIC with object-oriented extensions
Pascal
Ada
FORTRAN
Common LISP
There are also quite a few scripting languages that support Mac OS X.
From Apple, there is AppleScript, perl, ruby, and the various command
line shell scripting languages related to bash, tsch, etc.
Also available from external sources there is also Python, Eiffel, etc.
So, could someone please list the various languages available on the
Mac (Cocoa, Carbon, Java, etc.) with a small paragraph describing where
each language strength is and when one would want use each?
Such a brief would likely be simplistic. I would suggest referring your
friend to the Apple Developer web pages which describe Mac OS X
development in general, the Xcode Tools more specifically, and then the
various language/API technology platforms available. This is an
extremely rich and diverse development environment: what is important
to him/her might be missed in such a brief synopsis.
best,
Godfrey
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