NewtonScript

NewtonScript is a prototype-based programming language created to write programs for the Newton platform. It is heavily influenced by the Self programming language, but modified to be more suited to needs of mobile and embedded devices. On August 3, 1993, Apple unveiled the Apple Newton MessagePad. The device had 640 KB RAM, 4 MB ROM, and an 20 MHz ARM 610 microprocessor. The main intention behind Newton project, was to develop a device capable of replacing a computer while being portable. With limited battery and memory, the developers were looking for programming language capable of meeting these challenges. The developers looked at the C++ programming language but realized that it lacked flexibility. They started focusing on prototype based languages and were impressed with Smalltalk and Self. Concurrently Apple was developing another dynamic programming language called Dylan, which was a strong candidate for the Newton platform. However, both Self and Dylan were dropped out of consideration, as they were both in nascent stage for proper integration. Instead, a team headed by Walter R. Smith developed a new language called NewtonScript. It was influenced by dynamic language like Smalltalk and prototype model based like Self. Although NewtonScript was heavily influenced by Self, there were some differences in both the languages. Differences arose due to three perceived problems with Self. One is that the typical Self snapshot requires 32 MB of RAM to run in, whereas the Newton platform was designed to use only 128 KB for the operating system. This required some serious paring down of the engine to make it fit and still have room for applications. Another issue was performance. Since the language would be used for the entire system, as opposed to just running on an existing operating system, it needed to run as fast as possible. Finally, the inheritance system in the normal Self engine had a single parent object, whereas GUIs typically have two — one for the objects and another for the GUI layout that is typically handled via the addition of a slot in some sort of GUI-hierarchy object (like View).