Xref: utzoo comp.lang.objective-c:52 comp.sys.next:8856
Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!hsi!stpstn!lerman
From: lerman@stpstn.UUCP (Ken Lerman)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.objective-c,comp.sys.next
Subject: Re: Porting Objective-C code to Macintosh
Keywords: port, macintosh, objective-c
Message-ID: <5698@stpstn.UUCP>
Date: 19 Oct 90 14:16:13 GMT
References: <65994@lanl.gov>
Reply-To: lerman@stpstn.UUCP (Ken Lerman)
Organization: The Stepstone Corporation, Sandy Hook, CT 06482
Lines: 60

In article <65994@lanl.gov> jpm@lanl.gov (James P Mcgee) writes:
->
->
->   I've got some Objective-C code that I'd like to port to my Macintosh.
->It doesn't do any graphics or other hard to port stuff, just a lot of
->message passing.
->
->   The first thing I thought of was to buy Stepstones Objective-C
->compiler (which actually seems to be a translator that turns out
->ANSI C), translate to C on my NeXT, move the code to the Mac and
->compile it on Think-C.
->
->   However, there are two stumbling blocks in this scheme: (1) Stepstone
->doesn't sell a compiler for the NeXT, and (2) the run-time system isn't
->available for the Mac.  I thought I was on to something when the person
->at Stepstone mentioned that I could buy the source of the run-time
->library and port it to the Mac myself.  But then she mentioned the price
->tag ($25K!!!).  Apparently, another company in the same situation decided
->not to buy the source and rewrite it from the specs.  Reportedly, they
->got about 1/3 of the way through it and gave up.
->
->   So, it looks like Stepstone doesn't have any viable solutions, at least
->for my budget.
->
->   Does anyone have any other suggestions?  Can the compiler on the NeXT
->be persuaded to output ANSI C source code?  Even if it can, what run-time
->support is needed?  Does the gcc compiler understand objective-c yet?  Has
->it been ported to the Mac?
->
->   Thanks for any suggestions.
->
->Pat McGee, jpm@lanl.gov

(Note that I work for, but don't speak for, Stepstone)

1 -- I believe the price of $25K is for the source of the compiler.
The source of the runtime is shipped with the binary of the compiler.

2 -- If you buy the compiler for DOS (I believe that is the least
expensive platform, call Stepstone for a price), you get the source of
the runtime.  You could then cross compile from the DOS machine to
generate C source which could then be compiled on the Mac.  (This
assumes all sorts of things about C language compatibility, etc.)

3 -- If you are an educational institution, you can get Stepstone's
products for 5% of list (does not include manuals, and there are
probably other limitations.)


4 -- If you do port the runtime, you might need a license from
Stepstone if you are going to sell copies of the binary (I really
don't know).

5 -- If you have technical questions about Objective-C, or about
porting it, send me mail, or address your questions to
hotline@stepstone.com

I hope this has been useful and not too commercial.

Ken