Tenon Intersystems : Press Release

Objective-C and Ada95 Now Available for Power Mac

MachTen CodeBuilder - An affordable software development tool for the next generation MacOS

Santa Barbara, CA, January 7, 1997. Tenon Intersystems has extended MachTen - its highly-regarded UNIX system for Apple computers - to include the Objective-C and the GNAT-Ada 95 tool suite. MachTen CodeBuilder, a new offering from Tenon being demonstrated this week at Macworld in San Francisco, includes C, C++, Objective-C, Java, Ada95 and Fortran77. CodeBuilder can be used in combination with standard Macintosh editors and compilers to develop Macintosh applications, X applications, and UNIX applications.

MachTen CodeBuilder extends MacOS with a family of dynamically-linked, shared libraries that, like a Java virtual machine, create a UNIX virtual machine-based execution environment with pre-emptive multi-tasking. Tenon's MachTen UNIX is based on the same Carnegie Mellon Mach and BSD UNIX foundation as Steve Jobs' NeXT OS, making CodeBuilder a good platform for porting and building next-generation MacOS applications.

The native PowerPC (PPC) package contains a complete UNIX software development environment with a source-level debugger and C, C++, Objective-C, Ada95 and Fortran77 compilers all generating native PPC code. Because CodeBuilder creates binary PowerPC Executable Format (PEF) files that can integrate directly with other Macintosh development tools, software developers can combine Macintosh debuggers and compilers with the CodeBuilder tool suite to get the best of both the Macintosh and UNIX worlds.

CodeBuilder is a powerful tool for porting existing UNIX applications or developing new, advanced applications on Power Macs and Power Mac clones. This unique toolset gives developers the ability to create an application with a single source base not only for Power Macs under a native Apple operating system, but also for Silicon Graphics, SUN, NeXT, or HP environments. CodeBuilder gives Apple developers the freedom to take advantage of time-tested UNIX development tools without giving up the features of their favorite Macintosh editors or compilers.

Tenon's new development tool suite includes a native UNIX fast file system. CodeBuilder has two file systems - a UNIX file system which extends the Macintosh file system with file name case sensitivity, and this new native fast file system which removes the Macintosh file name length limitations and sizing restrictions. Tenon's fast file system can be contained within a single Macintosh file, making disk partitioning unnecessary. Depending upon the application, Tenon's new file system can result in a two- to ten-fold performance improvement. This performance advantage, coupled with the latest high-performance Power Macs, creates a new standard in desktop computing.

CodeBuilder supports a complete GNU software development environment. The GNU Ada95 and Objective-C compiler were brought to Power Macs by leveraging Tenon's existing gcc development tool suite. The Ada95 environment includes up-to-date tools for object-oriented programming and the core Ada essential tools suite from the Free Software Foundation. The Ada compiler includes a tasking run-time environment, an interface to the MacOS threads library, and Ada language bindings to the Macintosh Toolbox (API).

Objective-C, an object-oriented extension to the C language, is the NeXTStep development language. The GNUStep OpenStep base class library is included on the CodeBuilder CD as a source code compilation example. GNUStep is a widely-available implementation of OpenStep, the NeXT distributed application run time environment. The fact that CodeBuilder's Objective-C is able to build and execute large sections of the GNUStep library demonstrates the strength of CodeBuilder's Objective-C implementation. A future release of CodeBuilder will include the complete GNUStep environment.

CodeBuilder's Kaffe (a development & execution environment for Java bytecode), scripting tools (such as Perl, MacPerl, tck/tk and expect) and popular Macintosh and UNIX text editors (such as BBEdit Lite, Alpha, and emacs) make CodeBuilder an ideal internet programming and Web developer tool.

CodeBuilder includes a high-performance X11R6 24-bit color X server as well as an X client application development environment. The current release supports AfterStep, a NeXT-style X desktop. Options for OpenGL and Motif 2.0 will be offered by the end of the first quarter of '97, further strengthening CodeBuilder's X development capabilities.

The software comes on CD with BSD UNIX source code, on-line documentation in both HTML and Adobe Acrobat PDF formats, and an introductory price of $99.

Tenon has been shipping UNIX, X , and networking software for the Macintosh since 1991. In 1994 MachTen was selected by UNIX World's Open Computing magazine as "A Best Product of the Year".