CompuServe Thread

The Mac Hardware Forum GO MACHW section 7 is about Newton. Perhaps a thread on Newton Development would be OK here. In case it is, here is what I heard from two sources – Demos at Apple Developer Conference last May, and rumor messages I read on CompuServe. So, it's at best partly accurate: At WWDC they demonstrated Newton. Tapping on an icon called "extras" brought up a list of add-ons. I guess these are the apps which developers will write. Newton has some kind of central repository for data – all programs hook into the objects stored there. They showed a Mac application which let you draw a form on the screen, like using ResEdit to make a dialog box. There were controls like checkboxes, radio buttons, text fields and so on. You would hook the controls to the data they represent – an edittext field would hook to a text field in the repository, it looked like. You'd take this form and download it to the Newton, where it would appear in the extras list. That's all I saw at WWDC. Great for order entry, address books and so on, but I don't know that it is low enough level for all developers. Seems there is this thing called NewtonScript. I think this will be the real development language, and that it will be totally object oriented. I have no idea what it might look like, but in my head I imagine it might look more like AppleScript than anything else. I don't know if we will have traditional C compilers and assemblers for this thing. We know Newton will take some kind of plug in card. My guess is these could contain RAM, ROM, or devices. Maybe the ROM in the card would appear as new objects in the repository, and new extras. Probably anyone who knows the facts can't discuss them yet, but maybe someone can add to the speculation above. -Mike

Andrew, Answers AFAIK: 1. Yes, but pre-release is only really strategic products, which means major developers or really outstanding ideas which are sold well to them. Smaller folk (like us) will get a chance as the program grows, which I think means once they are shipping. 2. The current language for development is NewtonScript, which is not Dylan but totally OOP, I believe. But info is hard to come by. 3. Currently, I believe that development tools are on the Mac, and apps/etc are then downloaded to the Newton. 4. I believe that software will ship in ROM and related cards, not conventional magnetic media. 5. Anywhere, as there will not be many answers – those with them will be under NDAs, the rest of us will only be speculating! A superb & v helpful Apple techie called Kent Sandvik went to get some of their support services running, and he used to read this forum. Whether he still does, and can say anything…. Howard.

Andrew, I saw a glossy slip ad from APDA that was advertising the newton development environment would be available (in beta form) at the August MacWorld. Charlie Reading

Hi Andrew, As far as I know (having attended all the WWDC Newtons sessions) and having discussed Newton with Apple staffers at length recently are my answers to your questions… 1) Is Apple supporting 3rd party development of Newton applications? <<Yes. But you might not think so if you try and get information or…go forbid actually try and sign up!>> 2) Is there a compiler available (C or C++)? <<No. As far as I know the development language will be NewtonScript…object orientated…compiled>> 3) Is development done on a Newton or can it be done on a full size computer? <<No. Development is carried out on a Mac (or eventually i'm told a PC) using a very nicely designed devleopment environment. Code is then downloaded from the Mac to the Newton serial port.>> 4) Can the Newton load other programs from magnetic media or is software loaded on some sort of ROM card. <<Software can either be downloaded to the Newton via the in-builf Mac compatible serial port or can be stored on PCMCIA II RAM/ROM cards.>> 5) What is the proper forum for Newton questions? <<Let me know if you find out!!>> Best regards from London, England.