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* nextstep/README: Rewritten from scratch. New sections on "History", "Overview of Cocoa and Objective-C", "Guidelines", "Tracing Support", and "GNUStep". Expanded the "See Also" section. * nextstep/WISHLIST: New file containing list of issues and ideas associated with the NS port of Emacs.
101 lines
3.2 KiB
Plaintext
101 lines
3.2 KiB
Plaintext
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NS -- the Cocoa interface for OS X and compatible systems
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---------------------------------------------------------
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This directory contains files needed to build Emacs on system based on
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NextStep (NS), including OS X (Mac) and GNUstep, using the Cocoa API.
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HISTORY
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Up to Emacs 22, the OS X interface was implemented using the C-based
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Carbon API. Starting with Emacs 23, the interface was rewritten in
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Objective-C using the Cocoa API. Meanwhile, the Carbon interface has
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been maintained independently under the name "mac".
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OVERVIEW OF COCOA AND OBJECTIVE-C
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Cocoa is an API for the Objective-C language, an objective oriented
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superset of C. Anybody with experience with iOS or modern OS X
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application development should feel at home.
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A method call in Objective-C differs from most other languages in the
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fact that it doesn't have a normal name. Instead, the method name is
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made up of the name of each parameter. An exception to this rule are
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methods without parameters.
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The following calls a method in the object `anObject'.
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[anObject alpha:1 beta:2 gamma:3];
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Classes are declared like the following:
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@interface AClassName
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{
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// A class method.
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+ (TYPE)name1:(TYPE)param1
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// An object method.
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- (TYPE)name1:(TYPE)param1 name2:(TYPE)param2;
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}
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@end
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GUIDELINES
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* Adhere the to the FSF philosophy that a feature in GNU software
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should not only be available on non-free systems.
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* People with varying Cocoa and Objective-C skills will read and
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modify the NS code over a long period of time. Keep the code simple
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and avoid language constructs that makes the code hard to maintain.
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* Don't use macros and types intended for the XCode Interface Builder,
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like `IBAction'.
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* The NS interface should work on all version of OS X from 10.6.8
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(Snow Leopard) to the latest official release.
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* Under OS X, it is possible to build Emacs using NS, X11, or console
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only. A new OS X feature should work in all appropriate builds.
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TRACING SUPPORT
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The NS interface features a printf-based trace package that prints the
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call tree of selected functions in the Cocoa interface, plus various
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extra information. It can be enabled by uncommenting the line
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defining `NSTRACE_ENABLED' in "nsterm.h". To enable more output,
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uncomment the lines defining symbols starting with `NSTRACE_GROUP'.
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GNUSTEP AND OTHER COMPATIBLE SYSTEMS
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The NS interface works on system compatible with OS X, for example
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GNUstep. Even though they are less frequently used, this is important
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for a number of reasons:
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* It supports the GNUstep project and provides an Emacs with the same
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look-and-feel as the rest of the system.
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* This allows other Emacs developers to test their changes on the NS
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interface without having access to an OS X machine.
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* If a feature in the NS interface work on free systems like GNUstep,
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this meets the FSF requirement that features in GNU software should
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not only be available on non-free systems.
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SEE ALSO
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The src/ns... files contains the C and Objective-C parts.
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The lisp/term/ns-win.el file contains the lisp part of the NS
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interface.
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The INSTALL file in this directory for compilation instructions.
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The WISHLIST file in this directory for a list of ideas for future
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development of the NS interface.
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