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Programming Language

Objective-C

Object-Oriented Language

Objective-C was created mainly by Brad Cox and Tom Love in the early 1980s at their company Productivity Products International, first appearing in 1984. It is a thin, strict superset of C that adds Smalltalk-style message passing. This description is adapted from Wikipedia contributors under CC BY-SA 4.0; changes were made. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

Facts
First Released
1984 1
Paradigm
Reflective, class-based object-oriented; static, dynamic and weak typing discipline. 2
Significance
In 1988 NeXT licensed Objective-C from StepStone, and after Apple's 1996 acquisition of NeXT it became the primary language for Cocoa and Cocoa Touch development on macOS and iOS until the introduction of Swift in 2014. 2
Classification
Typing Discipline
Statically Typed 1
Typing Discipline
Dynamically Typed 1
Typing Discipline
Weakly Typed 1
Connections

Follows Typing Discipline

Dynamic Typing, Concepts

Entity-backed identity for the typing discipline value this language already carries as an enum fact, resolved to a concept entity by an explicit value-to-entity map (phase 3 bucket conversion, docs\design_entity_backed_browse_buckets_20260928.md). The enum fact itself stays on the entity unchanged.

Static Typing, Concepts

Entity-backed identity for the typing discipline value this language already carries as an enum fact, resolved to a concept entity by an explicit value-to-entity map (phase 3 bucket conversion, docs\design_entity_backed_browse_buckets_20260928.md). The enum fact itself stays on the entity unchanged.

Weak Typing, Concepts

Entity-backed identity for the typing discipline value this language already carries as an enum fact, resolved to a concept entity by an explicit value-to-entity map (phase 3 bucket conversion, docs\design_entity_backed_browse_buckets_20260928.md). The enum fact itself stays on the entity unchanged.

In Field

Software Engineering, Fields
Source Wikipedia: Objective-C

Influenced By

Smalltalk, Programming Languages
Source Wikidata: Objective-C
Additional Source Wikipedia: Objective-CSyntax section

Invented By

Brad Cox, Pioneers
Source Wikidata: Objective-C
Additional Source Wikipedia: Objective-C

Preceded By

C, Programming Languages
Source Wikipedia: Objective-C

Predecessor Of

Swift, Programming Languages

Swift was introduced in 2014 as a modern replacement for Objective-C, which had been Apple's primary application language since the early 1980s.

Source Wikipedia: Swift (programming language)
Sources
1. Wikidata: Objective-C
  • Wikidata Q188531, class allow-list match (w-wdresolver-0926)
  • Wikidata Q188531 P571 (inception)
  • Wikidata Q188531 P7078 (typing discipline)
View the Source
2. Wikipedia: Objective-C
Wikimedia Foundation
  • History section
    Objective-C was created mainly by Brad Cox and Tom Love in the early 1980s at their company Productivity Products International (PPI).
  • Infobox
  • Popularization through NeXT section
    In 1988, NeXT licensed Objective-C from StepStone (the new name of PPI, the owner of the Objective-C trademark).
  • Invented By: Brad Cox
  • In Field: Software Engineering
  • Influenced By: Smalltalk, Syntax section
    Smalltalk-style message passing (messaging) to the C programming language
  • Preceded By: C, Syntax section
    a strict superset of C
  • In Group: C-Family Object-Oriented Languages, Lead section: "Objective-C is a thin layer atop C and is a strict superset of C."
View the Source
Wikipedia: Swift (programming language)
Wikimedia FoundationPredecessor Of: SwiftView the Source
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