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NeXTSTEP

NeXTSTEP is a discontinued object-oriented, multitasking operating system based on the Mach kernel and the UNIX-derived BSD. It was developed by NeXT Computer, founded by Steve Jobs, in the late 1980s and early 1990s and was initially used for its range of proprietary workstation computers such as the NeXTcube. It was later ported to several other computer architectures.

For other uses, see Next Step.

Developer

Historic as original code base for macOS, iOS, iPadOS, watchOS and tvOS

Closed source with some open-source components

September 18, 1989 (1989-09-18)

3.3 / 1995 (1995)

4.2 Pre-release 2 / September 1997

Installer.app

Although relatively unsuccessful at the time, it attracted interest from computer scientists and researchers. It hosted the original development of the Electronic AppWrapper,[1] the first commercial electronic software distribution catalog to collectively manage encryption and provide digital rights for application software and digital media, a forerunner of the modern "app store" concept. It is the platform on which Tim Berners-Lee created the first web browser, and on which id Software developed the video games Doom and Quake.[2][3]


In 1996, Apple Computer acquired NeXT. Apple needed a successor to the classic Mac OS, and merged NeXTSTEP and OpenStep with the Macintosh user environment to create Mac OS X. All of Apple's subsequent platforms since iPhone OS 1 were then based on Mac OS X (later renamed macOS).

a operating system based on the Mach kernel, plus BSD

Unix

and a proprietary windowing engine

Display PostScript

the language and runtime

Objective-C

an (OO) application layer, including several "kits"

object-oriented

development tools for the OO layers.

NeXTSTEP (also stylized as NeXTstep, NeXTStep, and NEXTSTEP[4][5]) is a combination of several parts:


NeXTSTEP is a preeminent implementation of the last three items. The toolkits are the canonical development system for all of the software on the system.


It introduced the idea of the Dock (carried through OpenStep and into macOS) and the Shelf. NeXTSTEP originated or innovated a large number of other GUI concepts which became 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 called "inspectors", and window modification notices (such as the saved status of a file). The system is 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. These include Portable Distributed Objects (PDO), which allow easy remote invocation, and Enterprise Objects Framework, an 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.[4]

History[edit]

NeXTSTEP was built upon Mach and BSD, initially 4.3BSD-Tahoe. A preview release of NeXTSTEP (version 0.8) was shown with the launch of the NeXT Computer on October 12, 1988. The first full release, NeXTSTEP 1.0, shipped on September 18, 1989.[6] It was updated to 4.3BSD-Reno in NeXTSTEP 3.0. The last version, 3.3, was released in early 1995, for the Motorola 68000 family based NeXT computers, Intel x86, Sun SPARC, and HP PA-RISC-based systems.


NeXT separated the underlying operating system from the application frameworks, producing OpenStep. OpenStep and its applications can run on multiple underlying operating systems, including OPENSTEP, Windows NT, and Solaris. In 1997, it was updated to 4.4BSD while assimilated into Apple's development of Rhapsody for x86 and PowerPC. NeXTSTEP's direct descendant is Apple's macOS, which then yielded iPhone OS 1, iOS, iPadOS, watchOS, and tvOS.

the object-oriented application programming interface derived from NeXTSTEP

OpenStep

an open-source implementation of Cocoa API respectively OpenStep API

GNUstep

a window manager designed to simulate the NeXT GUI for the X Window System

Window Maker

originating in NeXTSTEP and carrying into macOS

Bundle (macOS)

the method of directory browsing that NeXTSTEP's File Viewer used

Miller Columns

Multi-architecture binary

NeXT character set

at Curlie

NeXT

NeXTComputers.org

on YouTube

Video of Steve Jobs Demoing NeXTSTEP Release 3

BYTE Magazine 14–03, Object Oriented Programming with NextStep

The Next Step