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MachTen CodeBuilder

CodeBuilder is based on the University of California, Berkeley UNIX built on a Carnegie Mellon Mach kernel. The Mach kernel replaces many of the Berkeley UNIX internals and provides a number of new features not available in traditional UNIX systems. CodeBuilder both refines and extends the capabilities of the native Macintosh Operating System by providing a pre-emptive multitasking UNIX environment that coexists with the MacOS cooperative sharing execution environment. Because CodeBuilder is only a development system, standard UNIX networking and file sharing found in other MachTen systems, have been omitted from CodeBuilder. With CodeBuilder, Macintosh applications, UNIX applications, Mach applications and X applications run simultaneously. CodeBuilder represents the confluence of the best features of the Macintosh and the systematic power and elegance of a UNIX development environment.

CodeBuilder's "UNIX Virtual Machine"

Tenon's MachTen technology is an extension to MacOS. Using standard Macintosh shared libraries and code fragments, Tenon's MachTen extends MacOS to create a UNIX virtual machine. The UNIX Virtual Machine (UVM) is implemented within the context of a standard Macintosh application program. Therefore, other existing Macintosh applications run in parallel with the UVM in a highly compatible fashion. The UVM, in turn, implements a standard UNIX API (POSIX) for a large family of traditional UNIX commands and utilities. The UVM implements a fully pre-emptive execution environment for it's applications. Since each UNIX application program is implemented as a Macintosh code fragment, UNIX applications are essentially "UNIX plug-ins". So, MachTen CodeBuilder is a highly-portable UNIX Virtual Machine that implements it's applications as UNIX plug-ins running within a Macintosh application context

CodeBuilder's Architecture

The figure below shows the basic system architecture. MachTen CodeBuilder consists of a family of shared libraries. The traditional UNIX libraries (libc, libm, etc.) are each a shared library, and every UNIX application is also a shared library. This organization takes advantage of the shared library, dynamic linking and memory mapped file access features of the MacOS and maximizes memory savings, as each software component is loaded into memory only once. Tenon's native fast file system (FFS) gives the CodeBuilder development tools access to UNIX-level performance and features.

CodeBuilder System Architecture

CodeBuilder's Development Environment

CodeBuilder's development environment includes the GNU compiler for Ada95, the first internationally standardized object-oriented language. CodeBuilder's Macintosh Toolbox bindings let you use Ada95 to produce native Macintosh applications. In addition, CodeBuilder includes the latest GNU compilers for C, C++, Objective-C and Fortran, and the latest GNU internet programming tools, such as Perl, tcl/tk, and expect. The Kaffe Java virtual machine lets you run your newly developed Java bytecode. Because all CodeBuilder compilers generate standard Power PC binary formats, CodeBuilder can be used in combination with any standard Macintosh compiler and debugger. And, just in case you prefer Macintosh tools, we've included such favorites as MacPerl, Alpha and BBEditLite

CodeBuilder's Desktops

When CodeBuilder is installed on your Macintosh, you still have the Finder desktop available, and you can easily switch from Macintosh applications to CodeBuilder. CodeBuilder and MacOS essentially operate as co-resident operating systems, sharing the processor and being enriched by each other's environment. Using CodeBuilder will enable you to work with Macintosh and UNIX development environments. CodeBuilder provides two styles of desktop environments. CodeBuilder's traditional desktop displays a customizable set of independent Macintosh command windows.

CodeBuilder's Traditional Desktop

CodeBuilder's alternate desktop is based on AfterStep which displays a NeXT-like desktop.

CodeBuilder's AfterStep Desktop