Posted by
CmdrTaco
on from the stuff-to-beat-on dept.
Fafhrd writes "The latest version of GNUstep, 0.6.0, has just been released. It has evolved a lot from 0.5.5, from six months ago. Check it out. " The website has also been given a beautiful facelift.
Re:I'm confused: GnuStep Gnome and WindowMaker
by
Anonymous Coward
·
· Score: 3
>>Correct again. GnuStep is really the oldest of the three, but work is proceeding more slowly >>on GnuStep than the other two (because the GnuStep people have set themselves a larger >>task) and GnuStep doesn't get as much press.
Extremely correct. Gnustep does not only provide objects for GUI programming. It also provides objects for data, for networking, for accessing files, for threading, for user preferences, and much more.
The Gnustep core library is divided in three parts:
base: (general, non-GUI objects) This library is finished. It is stable, and reasonably fast.
gui: (GUI objects) This library is under work. It is almost completed, but not yet stable.
xgps: (backend for GUI objects) This contains the interface between the gui library and the X Windows System. It is almost completed, but not yet stable.
>>--Phil (If only I had the time to learn Objective-C and help out.) Btw, learning Objective-C is a matter of hours, not days, if you already know C and what OO programming means.
Easy GNUstep Install for RedHat...
by
Steven+Borrelli
·
· Score: 4
I'd like to congratulate the GNUstep team on the release of 0.6. The libraries have matured to the point that end user apps are starting to come around, and the project seems to be gaining momentum.
I've written a GNUstep Redhat HOWTO that makes it easy to get up and running quickly with GNUstep on your RH box. Try it out and send me your comments!
GNUStep is an object framework, not a desktop
by
Anonymous Coward
·
· Score: 4
It's a set of classes organized into frameworks.
Fundamentally, these classes are organized into two frameworks, the GUI framework and the foundation framework. The organization of these frameworks reflects the OpenStep specification published by NeXT in the early '90s. You can think of the GUI framework as something like java.awt.*, and the foundation framework as everything else in java except java.net*. There are also some peripheral database modeling classes, etc.
The classes are written in Objective C, the one true C-based object language. =) It is entirely backward-compatible with ANSI C, and is supported in the most recent version of egcs. The syntax is based on Smalltalk, which means you have method calls and assignments that look like
id object = [myObject doSomething:withParameter];
The language is weakly typed, so you can refer to every object as type "id" [eye dee]. You can also use strong typing, so you would end up with an assignment like
As an aside, the creators of Java admitted to being heavily influenced by Objective C's design--one major creator of Java was ready to work for NeXT and was personally intercepted by McNealy to help Gosling with Java.
GNUStep isn't a desktop, although it, like OPENSTEP and any other GUI-based framework, promotes some sort of user interface consistency, such as consistent L&F title bars, buttons, etc.
What it lacks is a development environment, but I am hot on the trail. You may think I'm kidding but I am not. =)
GNUstep is an attempt to provide an Object-Oriented application development framework and tool set for use on a wide variety of computer platforms. GNUstep is based on the original OpenStep specification provided by NeXT, Inc. (now Apple).
GNUstep is written in Objective-C, the language from which the Signal/Slot concept of Qt was borrowed. Objective-C is basically standard C with one single syntax addition and a dozen or so additional keywords. That is all that is needed to implement an object system that is more powerful than that of that other language. In Objective-C all method calls are done via a mechanism that is similar to, but slighly more efficient than, the signal/slot mechanism of Qt. This has some interesting implications for the implementation of remote method invocation, on object serialization and some other things that are very hip in a Corba context.
Like Nextstep, GNUstep has a record of technical excellence that even today is unmatched by any other object framework, and of abysmal PR performance (also unmatched:-). A current commercial implementation of the same API (same API, different code) is the foundation of MacOS X.
Re:Mirrors and What is GNUstep?
by
scrytch
·
· Score: 3
It's just too bad that that one single syntax addition is doesn't look anything like C, it's smalltalk just bolted onto the side without any real consideration for C idioms.
Now to be fair, you can't really overload operators in C and still remain a strict superset of C, so perhaps the odd appearance of it is to make it act more like embedded smalltalk that integrates with C rather than an evolution of C per se.
Anyway, here's an example.
#import "DotView.h"
@implementation DotView
- init { if(![super init]) return nil;
// Let x and y initially run between -1 and 1. [self setDrawSize:2.0:2.0]; [self setDrawOrigin:-1.0:-1.0];
-- I've finally had it: until slashdot gets article moderation, I am not coming back.
Re:I'm confused: GnuStep Gnome and WindowMaker
by
Phil+Gregory
·
· Score: 3
Quoth an Anonymous One:
Please clear up my confusion:
I'll certainly try.
AFAIK GnuStep is not related to Gnome at all, right? (I currently don't get through to gnustep.org or gnome.org at all)
Correct. They are entirely different projects, with different goals. They just both happen to be GNU projects.
So do we have at least three free desktop environments on *nix? (except plain windowmanager + plain X11 apps) GnuStep, Gnome and KDE?
Correct again. GnuStep is really the oldest of the three, but work is proceeding more slowly on GnuStep than the other two (because the GnuStep people have set themselves a larger task) and GnuStep doesn't get as much press.
And what's the relation WindowMakerGnome? Is it just that some Gnome user use it because they like it more than E(nlightenment)? (Does Gnome has a "default" windowmanager at all?)
WindowMakerGnome is WindowMaker with Gnome compatibility. That is, the Gnome people have published specifications for making a window manager work well with Gnome, and WindowMaker supports those. I believe that WindowMaker also supports KDE, too. (Gnome does not have an "official" window manager.)
For a general discussion of what GNUStep is, see this post. In a nutshell, GnuStep is a GPLed implementation of the OpenStep specification, which grew out of the NextStep system. I'll also add the NextStep was the most beautifully designed system I've ever seen.
--Phil (If only I had the time to learn Objective-C and help out.)
-- 355/113 -- Not the famous irrational number PI, but an incredible simulation!
Slashdot Mirror
>>Correct again. GnuStep is really the oldest of the three, but work is proceeding more slowly
>>on GnuStep than the other two (because the GnuStep people have set themselves a larger
>>task) and GnuStep doesn't get as much press.
Extremely correct.
Gnustep does not only provide objects for GUI programming. It also provides objects for data, for networking, for accessing files, for threading, for user preferences, and much more.
The Gnustep core library is divided in three parts:
base: (general, non-GUI objects) This library is finished. It is stable, and reasonably fast.
gui: (GUI objects) This library is under work. It is almost completed, but not yet stable.
xgps: (backend for GUI objects) This contains the interface between the gui library and the X Windows System. It is almost completed, but not yet stable.
>>--Phil (If only I had the time to learn Objective-C and help out.)
Btw, learning Objective-C is a matter of hours, not days, if you already know C and what OO programming means.
I'd like to congratulate the GNUstep team on the release of 0.6. The libraries have matured to the point that end user apps are starting to come around, and the project seems to be gaining momentum.
I've written a GNUstep Redhat HOWTO that makes it easy to get up and running quickly with GNUstep on your RH box. Try it out and send me your comments!
It's a set of classes organized into frameworks.
Fundamentally, these classes are organized into two frameworks, the GUI framework and the foundation framework. The organization of these frameworks reflects the OpenStep specification published by NeXT in the early '90s. You can think of the GUI framework as something like java.awt.*, and the foundation framework as everything else in java except java.net*. There are also some peripheral database modeling classes, etc.
The classes are written in Objective C, the one true C-based object language. =) It is entirely backward-compatible with ANSI C, and is supported in the most recent version of egcs. The syntax is based on Smalltalk, which means you have method calls and assignments that look like
id object = [myObject doSomething:withParameter];
The language is weakly typed, so you can refer to every object as type "id" [eye dee]. You can also use strong typing, so you would end up with an assignment like
NSSomeObject object = [myObject doSomething:withParameter];
As an aside, the creators of Java admitted to being heavily influenced by Objective C's design--one major creator of Java was ready to work for NeXT and was personally intercepted by McNealy to help Gosling with Java.
GNUStep isn't a desktop, although it, like OPENSTEP and any other GUI-based framework, promotes some sort of user interface consistency, such as consistent L&F title bars, buttons, etc.
What it lacks is a development environment, but I am hot on the trail. You may think I'm kidding but I am not. =)
........... kris
What is GNUstep?
GNUstep is an attempt to provide an Object-Oriented application development framework and tool set for use on a wide variety of computer platforms. GNUstep is based on the original OpenStep specification provided by NeXT, Inc. (now Apple).
GNUstep is written in Objective-C, the language from which the Signal/Slot concept of Qt was borrowed. Objective-C is basically standard C with one single syntax addition and a dozen or so additional keywords. That is all that is needed to implement an object system that is more powerful than that of that other language. In Objective-C all method calls are done via a mechanism that is similar to, but slighly more efficient than, the signal/slot mechanism of Qt. This has some interesting implications for the implementation of remote method invocation, on object serialization and some other things that are very hip in a Corba context.
Like Nextstep, GNUstep has a record of technical excellence that even today is unmatched by any other object framework, and of abysmal PR performance (also unmatched :-). A current commercial implementation of the same API (same API, different code) is the foundation of MacOS X.
For a general discussion of what GNUStep is, see this post. In a nutshell, GnuStep is a GPLed implementation of the OpenStep specification, which grew out of the NextStep system. I'll also add the NextStep was the most beautifully designed system I've ever seen.
--Phil (If only I had the time to learn Objective-C and help out.)
355/113 -- Not the famous irrational number PI, but an incredible simulation!