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I made NewtonScript, starting in 1992. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NewtonScript https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NewtonScript) The other viable choice was to h
by wrs 10y ago
I made NewtonScript, starting in 1992. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NewtonScript https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NewtonScript)
The other viable choice was to have application developers write everything for the Newton in C or C++. By giving them a much higher-level framework (Scheme/Self-like language + UI views/interaction + indexed object store) we were able to get more functionality into the product/ecosystem faster and more reliably. At least I think so. Also, we didn't have much RAM to play with, and were able to do some nice memory-saving tricks underneath.
- patrec 10y agoIs there anything in Newton script you miss in current languages, or wish that would be more widely adopted?
- wrs 10y agoWell, JavaScript was pretty darn close to NewtonScript, except for the bizarre way arrays work and the weird semi-implicit prototype inheritance. Since JavaScript has taken over the world, I wish that stuff was cleaner. :) And speaking of prototype inheritance, I still think that makes a lot of sense in some domains (like UI programming) but hasn't gotten much traction. Beyond that, having an integrated object store (as opposed to a filesystem) is an idea from the 90's that really should get more mainstream attention.
- seesomesense 10y agoRespect ! I bought a Newton in 2007 or so, just to be able to play with NewtonScript.