Personal Bytes

OpenStep is responsible for what Mac OS X currently is. It was one of the most fundamental pieces of NeXT/NeXTStep and was forged together with Sun Microsystems.

OpenStep API is a set of libraries (or kits like they call it) for development. And these are incredible stuff. For those familiar with Mac OS X development (and usage), they’ll easily recognize a lot of stuff from OpenStep. For instance, the Foundation kit — the basis of OpenStep — asures a lot of useful data structures like NSString. It’s also responsible for managing distributed objects and keeps user information tied with the application (remember the plist files?).

But that’s not all. It has a GUI layer called Appkit. It also introduced the concept of bundles, that neat stuff that turns the idea of having an application on a single file into realm.

Why’s this preface? Because it’s really important to the GNU/Linux world. Linux lacks a consistent API where developers can rely on. Some use C along with GTK, while others chose to use C++ with Qt. Others go even further in using Tcl/Tk or another weird combination. Regardless of the choice it will somehow bring problems in the future.

And GNUstep could be the answer! It is backed up by a great language although it could be (arguably) ported to another language. It brings all the potential of the OpenStep to the Linux world. It would allow installation of applications as easy as a drag&drop can be. It would create a common look and feel and it would allow easy porting from and to Mac OS X!

So, developers out there, if you’re reading this, please consider using or helping GNUstep. There’s still a lot of work to be done — for instance, the widgets are outdated and it certainly lacks a UI like Apple’s Aqua. But this could really help the GNU/Linux spreading on desktop.