Cocoa World

The Cocoa Project (aka KidSim) was a graphical programming-by-example environment aimed at children. I think they changed the name from KidSim to Cocoa when they made a web-deployment option (that "Java" influence).

It is not developed at AppleComputer anymore. But on one hand some try to keep the original Cocoa alive (see the following links), on the other hand some members of the development team from Apple formed StageCast to develop the ideas of Cocoa further on.

http://dmoz.org/Computers/Programming/Languages/Cocoa/ (see OpenDirectoryProject)

CocoaWorld is not to be confused with the class framework used on MacOsx CocoaFramework. It is unknown why AppleComputer renamed the OpenStep framework for MacOsx to "Cocoa".

Here's the brief history of Cocoa from

http://www.crosswinds.net/~orla_redbird/cocoa/: ( BrokenLink )

: Cocoa was a project started back around 1994 under the name of KidSim by Apple. Although an early attempt, it already had the basic workings that exist in Cocoa today. About two years later, Apple created Cocoa as a way to distribute the KidSim technology. The Cocoa development community grew quickly and was strongly bound together. Then in late 1998, Apple canceled Cocoa because one of the companies the Apple was selling the technology too felt that they could not compete with Apple. Therefore, Cocoa came to an end.

Um. What is wrong with AppleComputer? Why do they just keep on throwing this kind of stuff away? Anyway, thanks to GordonWorley, host of Project Cocoa, it lives on. -- KeithBraithwaite

This project, and a thousand others, died when Gil Amelio did the big layoff thing... at that time, it seemed like Apple had 10,000 engineers and 10,000 projects. They needed to focus on essentials and profitability. [I was working on the standard c library at that time. Got laid off too.] Also, unlike Microsoft, Apple has traditionally tried not to compete with third-party application developers, so that is another reason for them not to commercialize a "pure" research project by the Advanced Technology Group. After the layoff, I heard that the people who developed KidSim were trying to get the permission to commercialize it themselves. -- KeithRay

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