dlw@Atherton.COM (David Williams) (05/09/91)
So, does Stepstone sell any classes or IB pallettes for the NeXTstep environment? Anyone have experience with them and pricing info. David
thomsen@spf.trw.com (Mark R. Thomsen) (05/11/91)
David Williams writes So, does Stepstone sell any classes or IB pallettes for the NeXTstep environment? Anyone have experience with them and pricing info. No. Stepstone does not sell their IC Packages on NeXT. The compiler originated with Stepstone but has sort of been taken over by NeXT. NeXT decided to do their own classes (NeXTstep, sound kit, etc.). Stepstone decided to not pursue the platform with specific classes for it alone and their more general packages would be redundant and competitive with bundled software. This info comes from conversations with Stepstone - we were interested in the same thing. Mark R. Thomsen
dlw@Atherton.COM (David Williams) (05/14/91)
In article <282B0654.364F@deneva.sdd.trw.com>, thomsen@spf.trw.com (Mark R. Thomsen) writes: >>David Williams writes >> So, does Stepstone sell any classes or IB pallettes for the NeXTstep >> environment? Anyone have experience with them and pricing info. >No. Stepstone does not sell their IC Packages on NeXT. The compiler >originated with Stepstone but has sort of been taken over by NeXT. >NeXT decided to do their own classes (NeXTstep, sound kit, etc.). >Stepstone decided to not pursue the platform with specific classes >for it alone and their more general packages would be redundant and >competitive with bundled software. This info comes from conversations >with Stepstone - we were interested in the same thing. > >Mark R. Thomsen Gee thats unfortunate, considering NeXT is the only hardware platform that has Objective C as the centerpiece of their whole product. What would be nice is if Stepstone would take the NeXT development that much further and layer a visual design/programming version of Objective C. I mean why stop at laying out the GUI via direct manipulation? Why not do the same for the underlying messages & methods as well? David
thomsen@spf.trw.com (Mark R. Thomsen) (05/18/91)
David Williams writes In article <282B0654.364F@deneva.sdd.trw.com>, thomsen@spf.trw.com (Mark R. Thomsen) writes: <skip stuff> >No. Stepstone does not sell their IC Packages on NeXT. <skip more stuff> Gee thats unfortunate, considering NeXT is the only hardware platform that has Objective C as the centerpiece of their whole product. What would be nice is if Stepstone would take the NeXT development that much further and layer a visual design/programming version of Objective C. I mean why stop at laying out the GUI via direct manipulation? Why not do the same for the underlying messages & methods as well? Yes, well Stepstone thinks this is unfortunate too. Objective-C is a means to their ends since they want to make hay by building and selling reusable components. A 'Software IC CAD' system makes some real sense as a goal for them. I don't know if they are doing anything with this but the guys I spoke with are smart enough that I would hazard they have thought a lot about this. It smacks of visual programming (not a high reputation field) but then graphical CAD to design a circuit one gate at a time would have had a bad reputation if they were already at the 1 micron densities in silicon land. Oh, and NeXT has not really bought Objective-C hook, line, and sinker. It is a means to their ends and, while it is heavily used, their new development environment supports C++ as well. They are not going to fight the public tides when that wastes energy relative to their goals. They are not out to sell Objective-C platforms; just platforms. Mark R. Thomsen