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Red Hat Diaries/002f

Objective-C

Objective-C is a language worth learning. If you do OO at all, it has to be with this language. OBJC is based on SmallTalk, and is basically compiled SmallTalk with C syntax. It uses implementations and its source files admit of the extension m for 'method' - and aside from a few cute tricks like #import, it only adds messaging syntax on top of a language it otherwise respectfully leaves alone.

The online Apple tutorial in Objective-C is only two chapters and a few HTML pages - it's that simple. But all too many OS X apps are using Java and scripting - and therefore a considerable bloat. In theory at least, OBJC should be extremely efficient, as its ability to reuse is real, not imagined. It's loosely typed (it's C), and so a breeze to use. And its messaging allows for a stable environment where bad code has a rough time of it.

Yet people have complained about sluggishness in OS X - and also about poor multitasking (and I am one). Some things seem to make asynchronous operations stand still - MP3 playbacks can skip for any number of flimsy reasons. True, if we peek back over the fence, we see that the other camp is not doing that much better, but still and all: OS X is supposed to be head and shoulders above the rest in all aspects, not just pulsating OK buttons.

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