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Power Macintosh

Market and Technology Overview for Third-Party Developers

Contents

Introduction

Customer Benefits
It's a Macintosh
It's Compatible
It Offers Tremendous Performance

Developer Benefits
Larger Market for Your Product
New Power for New Applications
Access to Multiplatform Markets

Developer Opportunities
Vertical Markets
Global Markets
The Platform Transition
Native Power Macintosh Software

Hardware Overview
Why RISC?
Why PowerPC?
The PowerPC Microprocessor Family
PowerPC vs. Pentium Microprocessors

System Software Overview
680x0 Emulation
System 7.5 Optimization

Getting Started
Emulation vs. Porting
Power Macintosh Development Advice
Tools for the Transition
Resources and Information

A Final Word

Introduction

On March 14, 1994, Apple unveiled the Power Macintosh line of Apple computers based on PowerPC reduced instruction-set computing (RISC) microprocessors. Today Apple has reached its goal of selling one million Power Macintosh computers long before the twelve months since introduction. With the introduction of Power Macintosh, Apple became the first manufacturer to bring the power of RISC to mainstream Macintosh, DOS, and Windows desktop system users, offering affordable, easy-to-use systems unparalleled in the industry.Power Macintosh computers offer you, the third-party developer, exciting new market and technology opportunities. Most developers should benefit from: Developing for Power Macintosh computers is not dramatically different from the way you typically develop products if you've been following recommended development practices. (See Power Macintosh Development Advice for more details.) The Macintosh application programming interfaces (APIs) continue to be supported on Power Macintosh systems, allowing you to maintain a single source code base for your applications. Though your existing 680x0-based applications should run with no problem on Power Macintosh hardware, we strongly encourage you to create native applications by recompiling your existing applications, so that you can take advantage of this platform's superior performance.

Combining the renowned Macintosh user interface with PowerPC processors is another example of Apple leveraging its unique talents to bring an innovative technology to a wider market. As always, we're working with the Macintosh developer community to transform this exciting technology into new business opportunities for you and into powerful solutions for our mutual customers.

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Customer Benefits

The Power Macintosh family of computers brings high-performance RISC technology to mainstream computer users. Besides providing current Macintosh customers with a seamless upgrade path, these computers offer the price/performance to attract new computer purchasers and users upgrading from other hardware platforms. From a customer's perspective, there are three important benefits to purchasing a Power Macintosh system:

It's a Macintosh

PowerPC technology extends the Macintosh platform in exciting new directions--and it's important to remember that a Power Macintosh computer is still a Macintosh. These new models look, act, and feel like Macintosh systems from a user's perspective. The new systems have an identical user interface, so users who upgrade don't have to learn new ways of doing things. What's more, customers can mix RISC-based and 680x0-based Macintosh systems on their networks, exchange files and disks between them, and enjoy all the other benefits they'd expect from a Macintosh.

The high-performance PowerPC microprocessor is quickly becoming an industry-standard platform, with manufacturers like IBM incorporating it into their computers. But of all these manufacturers, Apple is uniquely able to combine this powerful new hardware with a superior user environment--System 7.5, the Macintosh operating system. Compared with other operating systems, System 7.5 is easier to use and install, takes up less memory, and has more applications available. All of these benefits result in improved user productivity and lower costs over the life of the computer.

This point was illustrated in a study conducted by consulting firm Arthur D. Little, when it measured the productivity of more than 100 business computer users across 24 different computer tasks including editing documents, managing files, and printing. In the study, Macintosh users completed the suite of tasks in 44 percent less time than Windows users doing the same tasks. Furthermore, Macintosh users completed 85 percent of their tasks correctly, while Windows users completed only 58 percent of theirs correctly.

It's Compatible

One of Apple's primary goals in transitioning to PowerPC technology was to keep the new computers compatible with existing Macintosh products. Virtually all of today's thousands of Macintosh applications run on Power Macintosh systems without modification. Macintosh users can take advantage of the power of RISC with no disruption--their current applications, data, and networks are all compatible. This ultimately protects our mutual customers' investments in Macintosh systems and your products.

Compatibility is not just limited to applications. INITs, CDEVs, drivers, and other utility software also work on Power Macintosh systems. So do NuBus cards (such as networking and video cards), AppleTalk devices (such as printers), SCSI devices (such as hard disks and scanners), Apple Desktop Bus devices (such as mice, trackballs, and keyboards), and other Macintosh cards and peripherals.

It Offers Tremendous Performance

The initial Power Macintosh systems can offer customers two to four times the performance of today's fastest 68040- and 80486-based personal computers, depending on application. And when the second generation of PowerPC microprocessors is introduced, Apple's price/performance advantage over Intel complex instruction set computing (CISC) processor-based computers is expected to increase even further. (See the section "PowerPC vs. Pentium Processors" for more details.)

Because of this greater speed, applications written specifically for Power Macintosh systems, often referred to as native applications, typically run noticeably faster. In benchmark testing, Apple has found some cases, such as with floating-point-only test applications, where Power Macintosh computers ran 15 times faster than today's 68040 and 80486 systems.

Furthermore, Macintosh developers are using this enhanced power to increase the scope of products offered to personal computer users. We expect that you'll use the PowerPC technology platform to design more intelligent software interfaces; create products that help groups of people work together more efficiently; and develop cross-platform, modular application "parts" using the upcoming OpenDoc component software architecture.

"We believe the new Power Macintosh platform will help meet the performance demands of the professional design market, as well as offer a lower-cost solution to our customers."
--Dave Pratt
Senior VP and General Manager
Adobe Systems Incorporated
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Developer Benefits

Power Macintosh computers present third-party developers with exciting new market and technology opportunities. The attractive price/performance of Power Macintosh computers should significantly increase the Macintosh installed base, resulting in a larger potential market for your third-party Macintosh products. This advanced hardware, along with system software improvements, will provide you with a foundation to support future software solutions. And Apple's efforts to make this new platform fit into multiplatform environments may open new markets for your products.
"We are very pleased with the early acceptance of Power Macintosh. Compatibility with existing applications is exceptional. And, deliveries have been very good."
--Michael Spindler
President and CEO
Apple Computer, Inc.
"Since the introduction of the Power Macintosh native version of 4D and 4D Server, our sales have increased 27 percent. The response from our customers has been tremendous. Hundreds of calls requesting product updates have flooded into the ACI sales department."
--Susan Tussy
Director of Sales
ACI US

Larger Market for Your Products

Already Apple's aggressive and successful transition to Power Macintosh has created a strong demand for native Power Macintosh applications. Leading software vendors with products shipping for the Power Macintosh are reporting record sales, climbing revenue, and increasing customer demand. Their predictions for 1995 are optimistic. Applications optimized for the Power Macintosh platform are being released at an increasing pace with more than 400 native applications currently shipping.

Over time, the Macintosh platform will expand on three different fronts. First, the March 1994 introduction of the Macintosh Application Environment (MAE) allowed users of Sun SPARCstations and Hewlett-Packard 9000 Series 700 workstations to run most Macintosh applications. Apple has announced that it will offer MAE on other UNIX platforms as well. Second, the overall market for third-party Macintosh products is growing as "power users" from other platforms move over to the more attractive price/performance of Apple's Power Macintosh systems. And third, Apple has announced that it is actively pursuing the licensing of Macintosh system software to other PowerPC computer manufacturers. With the addition of these Macintosh "compatibles" to the market, the demand for Macintosh software is expected to increase even more.

Within just a few years, almost all new Macintosh computers manufactured by Apple will use a PowerPC RISC microprocessor instead of today's 680x0 CISC chip. Pieter Hartsook, an industry analyst, forecasts that by the end of 1995, almost 85 percent of Macintosh shipments will use the PowerPC processor. (See Figures 1 and 2 for unit shipment estimates.)

Apple recently announced that it expects to ship one million Power Macintosh computers in the first twelve months. Michael Mace, a competitive analysis expert at Apple, backs this estimate saying, "Apple was the first leading computer vendor to market with a mainstream RISC personal computer. By the end of 1994, we're very likely to ship more RISC-based computers than the entire workstation industry." Early market acceptance has been strong for the new systems; 600,000 Power Macintosh systems were shipped in the first seven months following the product's introduction.

New Power for New Applications

Power Macintosh computers provide you with a hardware foundation that's robust enough to support faster, more powerful products. It allows you to add more value to your existing applications, strengthening your position with current customers. It also lets you develop original programs that extend the capabilities of personal computing, enabling you to open new markets for your products.

The real benefits of PowerPC technology become evident in applications that take direct advantage of the processor's RISC performance. Simply by recompiling your current applications, you can gain full access to this power. The performance of recompiled applications is generally two to four times faster than the same programs running on today's Motorola 68040 and Intel 80486 systems. Applications that use floating-point mathematical operations (3-D rendering and CAD, for example) can experience performance increases as high as tenfold.

PowerPC technology permits Macintosh systems to be more closely integrated with telephone systems for modem, fax, and voice communications. It should help maintain the leadership of Macintosh as the premier desktop video platform. The higher performance provided by PowerPC processors enhance the capabilities of Apple's QuickTime software and enable more sophisticated video processing. (QuickTime runs at faster frame rates and in larger window sizes.)

In addition, PowerPC technology enables software to become smarter, more flexible, and able to anticipate and automate specific tasks. Interaction can become increasingly natural and the computer itself can become an active assistant, with new system-level features such as improved speech and more realistic three-dimensional imaging. All these user interface advances will help Apple work toward a key goal: to refine the technology so that the complexity is hidden from the user. As we make the interface smarter and more convenient, people can work in ways best suited to their needs.

You'll also be able to take advantage of new Macintosh technologies more quickly and easily as they become available. In short, PowerPC technology provides a powerful, versatile foundation for Macintosh systems for the next decade.

"The most exciting potential of the PowerPC architecture, beyond the dramatic performance gains, is in using the extra horsepower to create next-generation software interfaces, with sophisticated features like voice and handwriting recognition."
--Daniel L. Eilers
President and CEO
Claris Corporation
"With this new class of machines from Apple, the playing field is now becoming equal between the Apple Power Macintosh and Silicon Graphics Indy systems."
--Richard Kerris
Director of Product Development
Electric Image, Inc.

Access to Multiplatform Markets

The attractive price/performance of Power Macintosh computers, along with the broader availability of cross-platform compatibility software, may allow Apple to expand beyond the unit shipment rate of growth that has occurred in the last few years. According to Hartsook, "The first users switching from the Intel platform to the Power Macintosh are going to be power users who are more concerned with performance than with brand. However, the largest and most significant group that will switch from the Intel platform are going to be large business users who are attracted by the common reference platform that will be sold by Apple, IBM, Motorola, and many other vendors. This is going to allow them to lower their hardware purchase costs as well as their training and support costs." (See "The Platform Transition" section later in this whitepaper.)

What's more, users can preserve their investments in Windows software because SoftWindows, Insignia Solutions' PC-compatibility solution, can be installed on Power Macintosh computers to run DOS/Windows applications. SoftWindows is a software solution that offers Power Macintosh customers performance equivalent to that of today's Intel 386 or 486 computers, depending on system configuration. It provides full MS-DOS and Windows compatibility in standard mode, as well as built-in PC network support. (Complete licensed copies of Windows 3.1 and MS-DOS form an integral part of SoftWindows, enabling Insignia's product to support current versions of Windows applications.) SoftWindows is also compatible with the full range of PC devices and systems, including COM and LPT ports, floppy drives, memory systems, video displays, networks, and CD-ROMs.

In November 1994, Apple strengthened its commitment to provide cross-platform compatibility between the Macintosh and Windows/X86 platform, by announcing the Power Macintosh 6100 DOS Compatible system and DOS Compatibility Card for Power Macintosh 6100 and Macintosh Performa 6100 Series. By removing compatibility as a barrier to consider Macintosh, the Power Macintosh 6100 DOS Compatible is expected to attract new customers to the Macintosh platform. Apple plans to begin shipment of the Power Macintosh 6100 DOS Compatible system and DOS Compatibility Card in the first quarter of 1995.

While making sure that new Macintosh technologies provide upward compatibility for the Macintosh installed base, Apple recognizes the need for compatibility with the rest of the computing world--including dozens of products and technologies that support industry standards and cross-platform computing. Apple has evolved from its proprietary approach of the past to a cooperative "fitting-in" philosophy, working with such industry leaders as IBM, WordPerfect, Novell, Sun, and others to establish open standards that make it easier for Macintosh products to fit into multiplatform environments.

"Our sales took off with the launch of the Power Macintosh in March. Since then, sales of SoftWindows have tracked the sales trends of the Power Macintosh. Overall growth in the product line for the year is up 100 percent over last year's run rate for this category of product."
--David Gibbs
Vice President of Macintosh Sales
Insignia Solutions
"Apple's new technology will provide an excellent platform for us to build tools that will help our users process, share, and present information across multiple platforms."
--Dave Moon
Senior Vice President of Development
WordPerfect Corporation
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Developer Opportunities

The introduction of the Power Macintosh platform created both short-term and long-term opportunities for developers. And as with any kind of platform transition, it provides agile developers with opportunities to outmaneuver established market players. Here are some specific opportunities for application developers, hardware developers, and systems integrators, followed by a summary of promising vertical and global markets:
"Power Macintosh computers have raised the performance bar, meaning that an increasing amount of the Macintosh customer base will be able to use our product. As a result, we're `consumerizing' Painter, considering a number of ways of making it useful to more people."
--Mark Zimmer
Engineer
Fractal Designs.

Vertical Markets

What types of customers are going to buy the most Power Macintosh computers and native applications? Apple anticipates that the following market categories should be demanding native Power Macintosh applications in 1995. Apple will focus marketing efforts on the following groups during this time period:

"Power Macintosh is an ideal platform for FrameMaker users because the power and performance of PowerPC maps so well with FrameMaker's advanced document publishing capabilities."
--Martin Doettling
Director of Product Marketing
Frame Technology Corporation

Global Markets

Product shipments outside of the United States account for almost half of Apple's total revenue. This section, summarizes relevant global market information that should help you formulate localization plans for your native Power Macintosh applications.

The Platform Transition

The transition to Power Macintosh systems is nearly transparent to users. They can continue to buy whatever hardware and software they need today with the confidence that they'll be able to use it with Power Macintosh systems. What they will notice will be more choices of Macintosh models and applications. Today, customers looking for a midrange or high-end Macintosh system can choose between PowerPC 601 processor-based and 680x0-based models, selecting the one that best meets their needs, without having to worry about future upgradability. Both platforms will coexist for some time. Through your efforts, customers can purchase versions of their favorite applications that have been upgraded to take full advantage of PowerPC processor performance, as well as entirely new programs made feasible by this powerful technology.

If the sales of your products are linked to sales of specific Apple product models, you'll want to make sure native versions of your applications are on the retail shelves when customers begin to upgrade to these models. Figure 3 shows when specific customer groups are likely to move to Power Macintosh computers.

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The first wave of Power Macintosh customers was expected to come from Apple's loyal customer base. To take advantage of the upgrade potential of its installed base, Apple took the unusual step of announcing future upgrades to PowerPC technology even before the first Power Macintosh systems were released. Apple currently offers Power PC technology upgrades, both processor upgrade card and full logic board upgrades, for a wide range of systems including the Macintosh Performa 570 and 630 Series, the Macintosh LC 475, 550, 575, and 630, the Macintosh Quadra 630 and selected Macintosh Centris models, the PowerBook 500 Series and selected PowerBook 200 Series, and the Apple Workgroup Servers. Upgrades for other Macintosh models are available from third-party developers.

While upgrade sales have been significant, first-generation Power Macintosh sales have been even stronger. Many of these first-generation customers are the same type of customers who buy Macintosh Quadra computers. They are users in market segments like technical analysis, graphics, publishing, and prepress; they aren't price sensitive, and usually buy all the processing power they can get their hands on. In addition, the first PowerPC-based computers for the consumer market are already available with the Power Macintosh Performa 6100 Series, designed for families and individuals looking for a complete high performance computer system all in one box.

PowerBook computers built with the more economical and power-efficient PowerPC 603 processors are expected to be available and to motivate the next wave of customers to buy in mid 1995. When the 603 processors are built into less-expensive computer models, LC and Performa buyers should shift to the new platform. Customer adoption of the Power Macintosh platform should then increase rapidly as second-generation, PowerPC 604 processors, are incorporated into Apple's product line. And when the "mainframe-on-a-desk" 620 processors become available, workstation and server prospects should move over.

Native Power Macintosh Software

Nine months after the introduction of Power Macintosh, more than 400 software applications were shipping that had been created or redesigned to take advantage of the power and performance of the PowerPC processor. Apple worked closely with these developers and continues to support the hundreds of other developers who are in the process of porting their existing applications to the PowerPC architecture or creating entirely new applications.

Mainstream business productivity solutions such as ClarisWorks and WordPerfect were among the first to optimize for the Power Macintosh, but there are leading solutions in virtually every software category from publishing to computer-aided design to education and entertainment that are shipping native versions as well.

To obtain the most current list of shipping native applications, categorized by product type, call 1-800-462-4396 and request document #10308. Weekly updates are also posted on the Applelink communication network. AppleLink path: Power Macintosh: Third Party Products: Power Macintosh Shipping Products.

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Hardware Overview

PowerPC microprocessors are a new family of processors built on RISC technology. They're being developed as part of an alliance between Apple, IBM, and Motorola that began in 1991. The alliance agreements cover five major areas that will ultimately help Apple products better support multiplatform environments:

Why RISC?

RISC processors streamline the internal workings of computers. Whereas traditional CISC processors contain a wide variety of instructions to handle many different tasks, RISC processors contain only those instructions that are used most often. When a complex instruction is needed, a RISC processor builds it from a combination of basic instructions.

RISC processors are designed to execute these basic instructions extremely quickly. The performance gains achieved by speeding up the most-used instructions more than compensate for the time spent creating less-used instructions.

To date, RISC technology has been used mainly in systems designed for raw computational power. For example, most engineering workstations and commercial database servers use RISC processors. These computers have generally been based on the UNIX operating system and have therefore been more difficult to install, learn, use, and maintain than personal computer users have come to expect.

Apple believes that now is the time to bring RISC technology to mainstream personal computing. One important reason is that as an older technology, the rate of performance increase of CISC processors is slowing. New technology RISC processors, on the other hand, are less expensive to manufacture, and as volumes increase, computers that use this technology are predicted to offer increasingly better price/performance than CISC-based systems. The "Power PC versus Pentium Processor" section gives more price/performance details later in this whitepaper.

Apple is committed to moving its entire product line to RISC technology. This commitment will eventually bring the benefits of RISC to all Apple customers, whether they're buying entry-level, high-end, or notebook systems.

Why PowerPC?

When Apple technologists began to look for the microprocessor that could take Macintosh systems into the next decade, they reviewed most of the leading CISC and RISC architectures in the industry. PowerPC technology was the clear winner because it offers customers and developers:

The PowerPC Microprocessor Family

Apple, IBM, and Motorola are working on four versions of the PowerPC microprocessor simultaneously (see Figure 4). Each version is designed to meet the needs of a different segment of the marketplace

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The first microprocessor in the family is the PowerPC 601. The initial midrange and high-end Power Macintosh systems, introduced in March 1994 (see figure 5), use this microprocessor. The PowerPC 604 microprocessor is expected to eventually replace the 601, allowing Apple to offer even better performance in midrange and high-end Macintosh computers. The PowerPC 603 microprocessor will offer performance similar to the 601 in a lower-power, lower-cost design. These features will allow Apple to use the 603 in high-volume, desktop Macintosh computers and PowerBook models. The PowerPC 620 microprocessor will be a high-end product offering premium performance and a full 64-bit architecture. It's being designed primarily for high-performance workstations and servers.

PowerPC vs. Pentium Microprocessors

Pentium, Intel Corporation's most recently released CISC microprocessor, is being used in some vendors' computers. Intel maintains that RISC technology is not necessary to provide the power required for tomorrow's desktop applications.

However, recent independent test results find that the new Apple Power Macintosh computers outperform the fastest Intel-based personal computers available today. The Power Macintosh 8100/110 was the fastest computer tested, with overall performance 39 percent faster than a Pentium/100-based PC; it was also more than 15 times faster than a 486 system in computer-intensive tasks. (See Figures 6 and 7.)

Not only does the PowerPC microprocessor outperform the Pentium, but it does so in a smaller and cooler package. Size affects a microprocessor's cost (smaller ones cost less), while heat output affects which models it can be used in (hotter processors need more space and electrical power, which precludes their use in notebook computers).

The size, heat output, and cost of the PowerPC 601 microprocessor are about half those of the Pentium. All of these factors--combined with its performance--make the PowerPC 601 a less expensive yet more versatile foundation for the next generation of personal computers. And future generation PowerPC microprocessors are expected to widen the technological lead over the Pentium even further.

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System Software Overview

Apple's system software strategy for the initial Power Macintosh systems (see figure 8) consists of two key elements:

680x0 Emulation

Apple has used its expertise in integrating Macintosh hardware and software to write an emulator for the 68LC040 processor (a 68040 with no floating-point unit). This 68LC040 emulator makes it possible for Power Macintosh computers to run 680x0 code, including applications, extensions, and patches. It's part of the ROMs shipped with all Power Macintosh systems.
Other important new pieces of System 7.5 on Power Macintosh computers are:

System 7.5 Optimization

The primary operating system for PowerPC processor-based Macintosh computers is System 7.5. This is the same user environment that ships today with all 68K-based Macintosh systems.

Apple is optimizing parts of System 7.5 for the highest performance on the PowerPC processor. This optimization will benefit applications written for 680x0 systems as well as those developed specifically for PowerPC processor-based systems. It will not affect the System 7.5 user interface.

Apple modified the Macintosh Toolbox procedures that take the most computational power (such as QuickDraw routines) to take full advantage of the RISC performance of PowerPC processors. Over time, more of the Macintosh operating system will be converted to native PowerPC code. This means that RISC-based Macintosh systems will actually get faster as Apple releases new system software.

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Getting Started

Apple's sales show that customers are eager for the capabilities of PowerPC processors and for applications that can take advantage of those capabilities. Therefore, we strongly encourage third-party Macintosh developers to transition your products to native PowerPC code right away. Apple's primary objectives in the developer transition to this new platform are twofold.

First, we want to ensure that your existing, unmodified 680x0-based products are compatible with the new systems. This is achieved through the highly advanced emulator that's included in the system ROM of all Power Macintosh computers. Today's Macintosh applications should run, without modification, on Power Macintosh models with surprisingly responsive performance. Of course, performance varies dramatically based on the application and other factors. For example, applications that rely heavily on Toolbox routines will run at higher speeds than those that don't. In actual use, performance will range from a fast 68030- to a 68040-based Macintosh computer.

Second, we want to make it as easy as possible for you to develop native applications for the new platform and bring them to market as quickly as possible. The Macintosh APIs continue to be supported on the new systems. Combined with application compatibility, this feature will allow you to maintain a single source code base and protect your customers' existing data.

As a Macintosh software developer, you have two basic choices in migrating your applications to Power Macintosh: emulation or porting. The remainder of this section explains these options and describes the Apple and third-party development tools you can use to port your application to Power Macintosh computers.

Emulation vs. Porting

Existing 680x0 applications run on Power Macintosh systems without modification via the 68LC040 emulator. The performance of these unmodified applications is between that seen on a fast 68030-based Macintosh and a 68040-based Macintosh.

Some developers will find that emulation is an entirely acceptable migrationpath to Power Macintosh due to the performance demands of their applications. In making the choice between emulation and porting, Apple recommends porting first, since this allows you to tap the added power of the PowerPC and deliver new functionality not possible on 68K systems. But if you opt to emulate, rest assured that extensive testing by Apple, third-party developers, and the Macintosh community has shown extremely high levels of compatibility for 68K-based applications running via emulation on Power Macintosh systems.

If developers find that their applications are performance-bound, or that they desire to deliver new functionality or a new user experience that requires higher performance, then porting is clearly the best course of action.

Both Apple and third parties offer development tools for recompiling existing 680x0-based Macintosh applications to execute directly on Power Macintosh systems, as well as for creating new applications for this platform.

By providing its own tools and supporting the efforts of third parties, Apple intends to ensure that all application developers are able to create native applications that tap the power and performance of the new Power Macintosh computers.

There is a wide range of Power Macintosh development tools available from third-parties. Specific information on these tools can be found in the Macintosh Developers Guide available from APDA. (See the "Resources and Information" section later in this chapter for ordering information.) Collectively, the Power Macintosh tools provided by Apple and these vendors support a broad range of programming languages and development styles. They include compilers, debuggers, translation tools, interface building tools, and more.

"The new Macintosh represents a quantum leap in processing power, and was designed specifically for RISC processors and advanced architectures such as this incredible machine."
--Greg Galanos
President and CEO
Metrowerks, Inc
"PowerPC represents a major revolution in desktop computing price/performance that will enable developers to create applications we can't imagine today. Our Power Macintosh development environment and class libraries will redefine how these next-generation applications are created in the `90s."
--Phillip Cox
President and CEO
Prograph International

Power Macintosh Development Advice

The Power Macintosh shouldn't significantly change the way you develop if you follow recommended development practices. There are, however, some development guidelines--you're probably already familiar with many of them--that will help you avoid problems along the way. The most important advice is to get a copy of the new Macintosh Developers Guide and read it now. (For ordering information, see the "Resources and Information" section later in this chapter.) Then, as you optimize your 680x0 applications or create original programs to run on Power Macintosh systems, make sure you abide by these guidelines:
  1. Write in C or C++ (an ANSI-compliant version).
  2. Make your code 32-bit clean. Most applications now satisfy this requirement, thanks to System 7.5, but it deserves reiterating because 24-bit code will no longerbe an option.
  3. Eliminate the direct use of low-memory globals. Instead use the accessor functions found in the LowMem.h interface file.
  4. Ensure that data structures are aligned. Also, don't depend on undocumented data structures.
  5. Don't depend on the 680x0 run-time model. It's very idiosyncratic. Fortunately, many of those idiosyncrasies were eliminated in the PowerPC run-time architecture, making programming easier, but complicating the move from the 680x0 to this new architecture.
  6. Use programmatic interfaces to perform I/O functions. Don't depend on the hardware. In Power Macintosh computers, the 680x0 CPU is no longer present, and the I/O architecture can change.
  7. Isolate and eliminate the use of internal Toolbox calls.
  8. Isolate dependencies on 80-bit extended format numeric type
  9. Don't depend on specific interrupt levels.
  10. Avoid patching traps.
  11. Don't write data into code. In the past, this was often necessary because of limitations of the run-time architecture. Many of the reasons for doing it no longer exist with the Power Macintosh architecture, so avoid it.

Tools for the Transition

If you are working in either C, C++, or Pascal, there are a number of development tools available to help you make the transition to Power Macintosh.

If you are programming in C or C++, there are four environments that you can choose from: Absoft C++, Metrowerks CodeWarrior, MPW Pro, which is also available as part of Essentials*Tools*Objects (E.T.O.) from APDA, and Symantec C++. Each of these environments includes all of the tools required to port a C or C++ based application to Power Macintosh.

For developers programming in Pascal or Object Pascal, there are two environments that you can choose from: Language Systems Object Pascal and Metrowerks CodeWarrior. Note: Unlike Language Systems Object Pascal, Metrowerks CodeWarrior does not currently support the extensions required for programming in Object Pascal.

There are also tools available to help programmers working in assembly language or a language other than C, C++, or Pascal make the transition to Power Macintosh. Specific information on these tools and on each of the programming environments listed above can be found in the Macintosh Developers Guide (See the "Resources and Information" section later in this chapter for ordering information).

Resources and Information

This section lists the documentation and tutorial material available from APDA. Prices given here are for the United States market only. You can call APDA from the United States at 1-800-282-2732, from Canada at 1-800-637-0029, and from elsewhere at (716) 871-6555.

Tools for PowerPC development include: Additional resources include the following: Table of Contents

A Final Word

The Power Macintosh is only one piece of Apple's overall strategy to create the next-generation computing platform. As part of Apple's long-term priority of developing hardware and software, there are complementary changes occurring on the system software side of the platform. In fact, the whole Mac OS is evolving (See the document, Macintosh Operating System Strategy--A Safe Transition to Next-Generation Computing for details.)

Because the operating system plays a key role in meeting Apple's goals, the company has established a four-point product plan:

Apple is the only personal computer company that can combine RISC performance with the renowned Macintosh ease of use, creating an exciting new generation of personal computers. Our integrated approach to hardware and system software design lets us make a smooth transition to PowerPC technology that will protect compatibility with your current Macintosh products while providing a stable foundation for you to create powerful, innovative applications and peripherals.

Apple's fundamental commitment to RISC is demonstrated by our moving the entire line of Macintosh systems to PowerPC technology. We look forward to working with third-party Macintosh software and hardware developers to fully exploit the benefits of this innovative new generation of personal computers. Table of Contents

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Last Updated on Feb. 17, 1995
Copyright 1995, Apple Computer, Inc.

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