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Industry | Software |
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Founder | Mike Westerfield [1] [2] |
Website | www |
The Byte Works, founded and run by Mike Westerfield, was a key player in the history of developer tools for Apple II computers. Its first product, the ORCA/M assembler (Object Relocatable Code Assembler for Microcomputers, and also MACRO spelled backwards), developed jointly by Westerfield and Phil Montoya, was a powerful assembly language development environment, complete with a Unix-style shell, which ran on 8-bit Apple II computers.
However, The Byte Works came into its own when Apple Computer was developing the Apple IIgs computer. In need of developer tools, they contacted The Byte Works and came to an agreement by which The Byte Works would develop the official developer tool suite for the Apple IIgs -- the Apple Programmer's Workshop (APW). [3] [4] [5] This tool suite eventually would include an assembler as well as a C compiler.
The Byte Works was also able to distribute its own developer tool suite, based on the same code as APW. The ORCA/M assembler came first, followed by ORCA/Pascal, ORCA/C, and several other languages, including ORCA/Modula-2 and ORCA/Integer BASIC.
The Byte Works did produce software other than developer tools, although tools were their mainstay. The Quick Click Calc spreadsheet was an excellent spreadsheet for the Apple IIgs, although it arrived on the scene too late to have any major impact on the market. [6]
An easy-to-use and very powerful BASIC interpreter called GSoft BASIC was also eventually released in the mid-1990s. [7] [8] With the ability to communicate with the Apple IIgs Toolbox, it could be used to produce powerful software with a minimum of effort.
The Byte Works ceased development of Apple II software in 2000 and licensed its entire product line to Syndicomm, which continues to publish its extensive library to this day. In 2015, this license was extended to Juiced.GS . [9]
The Apple II series of microcomputers was initially designed by Steve Wozniak, manufactured by Apple Computer, and launched in 1977 with the Apple II model that gave the series its name. It was followed by the Apple II Plus, Apple IIe, Apple IIc, and Apple IIc Plus, with the 1983 IIe being the most popular. The name is trademarked with square brackets as Apple ][, then, beginning with the IIe, as Apple //. In terms of ease of use, features, and expandability, the Apple II was a major advancement over its predecessor, the Apple I, a limited-production bare circuit board computer for electronics hobbyists.
The Apple II is a personal computer released by Apple Inc. in June 1977. It was one of the first successful mass-produced microcomputer products and is widely regarded as one of the most important personal computers of all time due to its role in popularizing home computing and influencing later software development.
HyperCard is a software application and development kit for Apple Macintosh and Apple IIGS computers. It is among the first successful hypermedia systems predating the World Wide Web.
VisiCalc is the first spreadsheet computer program for personal computers, originally released for the Apple II by VisiCorp on October 17, 1979. It is considered the killer application for the Apple II, turning the microcomputer from a hobby for computer enthusiasts into a serious business tool, and then prompting IBM to introduce the IBM PC two years later. More than 700,000 copies were sold in six years, and up to 1 million copies over its history.
Turbo Pascal is a software development system that includes a compiler and an integrated development environment (IDE) for the programming language Pascal running on the operating systems CP/M, CP/M-86, and DOS. It was originally developed by Anders Hejlsberg at Borland, and was notable for its very fast compiling. Turbo Pascal, and the later but similar Turbo C, made Borland a leader in PC-based development tools.
The Apple IIGS is a 16-bit personal computer produced by Apple Computer. It is the fifth and most powerful of the Apple II family. It is compatible with earlier Apple II models, but has a Macintosh look and feel, and resolution and color similar to the Amiga and Atari ST. The "GS" in the name stands for "Graphics and Sound", referring to its enhanced multimedia hardware, especially its state-of-the-art audio.
ProDOS is the name of two similar operating systems for the Apple II of personal computer. The original ProDOS, renamed ProDOS 8 in version 1.2, is the last official operating system usable by all 8-bit Apple II computers, and was distributed from 1983 to 1993. The other, ProDOS 16, was a stop-gap solution for the 16-bit Apple IIGS that was replaced by GS/OS within two years.
GS/OS is an operating system developed by Apple Computer for its Apple IIGS personal computer. It provides facilities for accessing the file system, controlling input/output devices, loading and running program files, and a system allowing programs to handle interrupts and signals. It uses ProDOS as its primary filing system. GS/OS is a component of Apple IIGS System Software versions 4.0 through 6.0.1, and was the first true 16-bit operating system for the IIGS.
AppleWorks was an integrated office suite containing a word processor, database, and spreadsheet. It was developed by Rupert Lissner for Apple Computer, originally for the Apple II and launched in 1984. Many enhancements for AppleWorks were created, the most popular being the TimeOut series from Beagle Bros which extended the life of the Apple II version of AppleWorks. Appleworks was later reworked for the Macintosh platform.
A programming tool or software development tool is a computer program that software developers use to create, debug, maintain, or otherwise support other programs and applications. The term usually refers to relatively simple programs, that can be combined to accomplish a task, much as one might use multiple hands to fix a physical object. The most basic tools are a source code editor and a compiler or interpreter, which are used ubiquitously and continuously. Other tools are used more or less depending on the language, development methodology, and individual engineer, often used for a discrete task, like a debugger or profiler. Tools may be discrete programs, executed separately – often from the command line – or may be parts of a single large program, called an integrated development environment (IDE). In many cases, particularly for simpler use, simple ad hoc techniques are used instead of a tool, such as print debugging instead of using a debugger, manual timing instead of a profiler, or tracking bugs in a text file or spreadsheet instead of a bug tracking system.
Macintosh Programmer's Workshop (MPW) is a software development environment for the Classic Mac OS operating system, written by Apple Computer. For Macintosh developers, it was one of the primary tools for building applications for System 7.x and Mac OS 8.x and 9.x. Initially MPW was available for purchase as part of Apple's professional developers program, but Apple made it a free download after it was superseded by CodeWarrior. On Mac OS X it was replaced by the Project Builder IDE, which eventually became Xcode.
Beagle Bros was an American software company that specialized in creating personal computing products. Their primary focus was on the Apple II family of computers. Although they ceased business in 1991, owner Mark Simonsen permitted the Beagle Bros name and logo to be included on the 30th anniversary reboot of I. O. Silver, released on December 12, 2014, by former Beagle programmer Randy Brandt.
Lazer's Interactive Symbolic Assembler (Lisa) is an interactive 6502 assembler for Apple II computers written by Randall Hyde in the late 1970s.
Randy Wigginton was Apple Computer's sixth employee, creator of MacWrite, Full Impact, and numerous other Mac applications. He used to work in development at eBay, Quigo, Inc and Move.com. In November 2010, he left his position as a "site reliability engineer" at Google Inc., purportedly after leaking news of a $1,000 holiday cash bonus to employees.
KansasFest is an annual event for Apple II computer enthusiasts. Previously held every July at Rockhurst University in Kansas City, Missouri, but now held in Springfield, Illinois, KansasFest typically lasts five days and features presentations from Apple II experts and pioneers, as well as games, fun events, after-hours hallway chatter, late-night runs out to movies or restaurants, and more. A number of important new products have been released at KansasFest or developed through collaborations between individuals who likely would not have gotten together. Some of the most notable have been the introduction of the LANceGS Ethernet Card, and the Marinetti TCP/IP stack for the Apple IIGS.
End-user development (EUD) or end-user programming (EUP) refers to activities and tools that allow end-users – people who are not professional software developers – to program computers. People who are not professional developers can use EUD tools to create or modify software artifacts and complex data objects without significant knowledge of a programming language. In 2005 it was estimated that by 2012 there would be more than 55 million end-user developers in the United States, compared with fewer than 3 million professional programmers. Various EUD approaches exist, and it is an active research topic within the field of computer science and human-computer interaction. Examples include natural language programming, spreadsheets, scripting languages, visual programming, trigger-action programming and programming by example.
Integrated software is a software for personal computers that combines the most commonly used functions of many productivity software programs into one application.
ORCA/Modula-2 is a Modula-2 compiler written in the Modula-2 programming language for the Apple IIGS computer.
...APW C is intended for use with the Apple Programmer's Workshop...
...Apple decided to use a 16 bit version of ORCA/M as the standard development environment for the new machine, code named Cortland. On July 21, 1986, the last version of this environment that was still called Cortland Programmer's Workshop was delivered to Apple for shipment to the developer community. Later versions were called Apple Programmer's Workshop, or just APW...
...Mike Westerfield...Two years later he finished ORCA/M, which went on to become Apple Programmer's Workshop, the Apple development environment for the Apple IIGS...