Apple didn't present Carbon as merely a compatibility layer at the time. It was positioned as the procedural C paradigm alongside Cocoa's and Java's object-orie

Apple didn't present Carbon as merely a compatibility layer at the time. It was positioned as the procedural C paradigm alongside Cocoa's and Java's object-oriented paradigms. Carbon was supposed to be one of the three development frameworks for OS X alongside Cocoa and Java, which is why Cocoa and Carbon have drink-themed names to fit with Java. Porting a classic app to Carbon was "Carbonization."