Foundation, 3.2, ...

[Todd Thomas]

Michael Gersten	said:

>For all of you who are using Foundation, and NOT EOF,

>  Q: What does Foundation actually give you? I've read the
>  stuff I can find at www.next.com, and it looks like the
>  biggest benefit is the retain/release/autorelease
>  alternative to free and reference counting.

There are loads of new classes to use. NSString, NSArray,  
NSDictionary, etc...

>  Would you be able to make 3.2 versions of the Omni
>  products if this was available on 3.2 systems?

Only if you had the source code or a library containing the  
foundation kit.

>  If you say yes, I'll have a beta version out in 2 days.

But what's going to happen when the app starts up and wants to  
create an object found only in the foundation kit? It's much more  
than just the new autorelease scheme.

On another note, what would happen when the GNU people finish the  
foundation kit part of GNUStep? Wouldn't Omni (and others) be able  
to link libobjects that into the executable and have it work on  
machines without the foundation shlib?

>  Otherwise, what does Foundation give that wasn't in 3.2?
>  I didn't see much else in the press releases/notes.

Grab the OpenStep spec from ftp.next.com and take a look at the  
subdirectory "Foundation". There's lots there..

And I guess any further discussion (if there is any) should move to  
next-prog or something more appropriate.

---
Todd Thomas (Todd_Thomas at fnbc.com - NeXTMail, MIME)
Capital Market Systems
First National Bank of Chicago