GNUstep

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The GNUstep Project

GNUstep screenshot showing various applications developed with the GNUstep libraries
Developer:	GNUstep Developers
Latest release:	make & base 1.13.0, gui & back 0.11.0 / August 28, 2006
OS:	Cross-platform
Use:	Desktop environment
License:	GPL and LGPL
Website:	gnustep.org

GNUstep is a free software implementation of NeXT's OpenStep Objective-C libraries (called frameworks), widget toolkit, and application development tools not only for Unix-like operating systems, but also for Microsoft Windows. It is part of the GNU project.

GNUstep features a cross-platform, object-oriented development environment based on and completely compatible with the OpenStep specification developed by NeXT (which has since been bought by Apple Inc.) Like Apple, GNUstep also has a Java interface to OpenStep, as well as Ruby ^[1] and Scheme ^[2] bindings. The GNUstep developers track some additions to Apple's Cocoa to remain compatible. The roots of the GNUstep application interface are same as the roots of Cocoa: NeXT and OpenStep. GNUstep predates Cocoa.

1 History
2 Paradigms
3 Class capabilities
- 3.1 Foundation Kit
- 3.2 Application Kit
4 References
5 See also
6 External links

[edit] History

GNUstep began when Paul Kunz and others at SLAC wanted to port HippoDraw from NeXTSTEP to another platform. Instead of rewriting HippoDraw from scratch and reusing only the application design, they decided to rewrite the NeXTSTEP object layer which the application depended on. This was the first version of libobjcX. It enabled them to port HippoDraw to Unix systems running the X Window System without changing a single line of their application source. After the OpenStep specification was released to the public in 1994, they decided to write a new objcX which would adhere to the new APIs. The software would become known as "GNUstep".

[edit] Paradigms

GNUstep is modeled somewhat on OPENSTEP, NeXT's implementation of the OpenStep API, and thus inherits some design principles proposed in OPENSTEP as well as the Objective-C language.

Model-view-controller paradigm
Target-Action
Drag and drop
Delegation
Message forwarding (through NSInvocation)

[edit] Class capabilities

[edit] Foundation Kit

strings
collections (arrays, sets, dictionaries) and enumerators
file management
object archiving
advanced date manipulation
distributed objects and inter-process communication
URL handling
notifications (and distributed notifications)
easy multi-threading
timers
locks
exception handling

[edit] Application Kit

user interface elements (table views, browsers, matrices, scroll views)
graphics (WYSIWYG, postscript-like graphics, bezier paths, image handling with multiple representations, * graphical contextes)
color management (calibrated vs. device colors; CMYK, RGB, HSB, gray and named color representations; alpha transparency)
text system features: rich text format, text attachements, layout manager, typesetter, rules, paragraph styles, font management, spelling
document management
printing features: print operations, print panel and page layout
help manager
pasteboard (aka clip board) services
spell checker
workspace bindings for applications
drag and drop operations
services sharing among applications

[edit] References

[edit] See also

Free software Portal

Étoilé - GNUstep-based desktop environment
Gorm - Graphical Object Relationship Manager (also UI builder)
GNUstep Renaissance - framework for XML description of portable GNUstep/Mac OS X user interfaces
StepTalk - Scripting framework
Window Maker - a window manager designed to emulate the NeXT GUI as part of the wider GNUstep project
Afterstep - a fork of the FVWM manager with a look based on that of NeXTStep.
Emacs.app for Mac OS X and GNUstep