NEXTSTEP In Focus, Spring 1993 (Volume 3, Issue 2).
Copyright ©1993 by NeXT Computer, Inc.  All Rights Reserved.

FYI

NEXTSTEP DEVELOPER RELEASE 3.1

What's new about NEXTSTEP Developer Release 3.1? Good question!

First, it has a new name: NEXTSTEP Developer. It's an add-on product to the user NEXTSTEP software and we'll revise it separately from the base release, so we can deliver new and better functionality in less time to all eager developers! We'll synchronize revisions with major base releases, and use those releases to add features to the user system.

There are also lots of enhancements in Release 3.1, as well as some changes to the developer documentation. Read on!

Developer Release 3.1 enhancements

In addition to a number of bug fixes, NEXTSTEP Developer Release 3.1 includes:

		Updated compiler GCC 2.2.2 (including Objective C and C++).
		Updated GDB debugger (GDB 4.7).
		Cross compilers that you can use to build applications for a platform other than the one you're developing on (such as Intel or Motorola), or even for multiple platforms in a single executable. You accomplish this with a Multi-Architecture Binary, or MAB. (You may have heard these called "fat binaries"--"MAB" is the official name.)
		GNU sources for GCC and GDB.
		Support for libg++ v2.3 (C++ class libraries) as an archive library.
		Novell APIs (a C interface to NetWare®). This includes the header files, archive libraries, and documentation.
		POSIX header files and libraries.

We've also enhanced Project Builder:

		You can build for a particular platform or multiple platforms using a MAB.
		There's a new Preference setting for specifying which debugger to launch by default.

We added a new application also. It's called Header Viewer, and has these features:

		Upgraded from a demo in Release 3.0 to a supported application.
		Has a new UI to simplify and add space for browsing.
		Supports multiple precompiled headers in one viewer.
		Allows context-sensitive browsing.
		Allows you to specify search locations for documentation, so you can load documents.
		Lets you walk through the class hierarchy in either direction (through subclasses or superclasses).
		Allows you to print the documentation view.

And for Project Builder, Interface Builder, and Header Viewer, there's now on-line help!

Changes to documentation

The developer package also includes the hardcopy developer documentation. This set of documentation includes:

		NEXTSTEP Development Tools and Techniques
		NEXTSTEP User Interface Guidelines
		NEXTSTEP Programming Interface Summary
		NEXTSTEP General Reference, Volumes 1 & 2
		NEXTSTEP Object-Oriented Programming and the Objective C Language

The first five manuals are the same versions that were available for NEXTSTEP Release 3.0, while the sixth is new. The on-line developer documentation has been updated for this release.

EXPANDED NEXTSTEP CURRICULUM

Based on our customer experiences during the past six months, we've expanded the NEXTSTEP curriculum significantly.

We're very pleased to offer the Mentorship Program, an alternative to the base curriculum, which provides you with a customized learning path that focuses on your site's specific needs. In addition, open enrollment and on-site classes have been updated to reflect customer feedback and to incorporate Intel-specific information.

Mentorship Program

The goal of the Mentorship Program is to enhance your education cycle by teaming you with a mentor. The mentor provides individual attention to the specific training needs of your site and ensures that your developers can complete mission-critical custom application prototypes successfully.

Training, not consulting

NeXT wants to empower you to write custom applications. Frequently, clients who are new to NEXTSTEP team their programmers with a consultant to get a quick start on their development efforts. In this situation it's common for consultants to position themselves so clients need their services long-term. Often, consultants complete projects for clients rather than enabling the clients' developers to do it themselves.

Training takes the opposite approach. In the Mentorship Program, we guide you through the initial development cycle and provide analysis, focus, and remediation as necessary. At the end of the program, you have a completed project in hand--and the benefit of experience with the development cycle. The bottom line is that you gain both a working prototype and a set of skilled NEXTSTEP programmers.

Customized curriculum

During the initial stage of the Mentorship Program, NeXT training experts work with you to design a custom curriculum and agree on a set of deliverables in the form of an application prototype. Based on consultation with you, the NeXT training staff submits a project specification document. These specifications consist of prototyping objectives that can reasonably be delivered by a trained class of developers in a two-week period.

The actual training work begins with a technical introduction to the NEXTSTEP environment and development tools, and progresses through the Programming NEXTSTEP class. This instruction is followed by a two-week application prototyping seminar tailored to your project requirements. The class turns the prototype into a production-quality application, without depending on third-party consulting for basic NEXTSTEP programming.

Because NeXT Education's goal is to make sure that your developers acquire real skills and knowledge, the Mentorship Program is designed to be presented in non-consecutive weeks. NeXT trainers have found it beneficial to break training up over several weeks or months, to allow students adequate time to assimilate the new material.   Between training weeks, NeXT provides individual students with projects to work on to hone their skills.

Open enrollment and on-site classes

Both the developer and system administration learning paths have been expanded and augmented. The developer curriculum now includes more classes for those of you approaching NEXTSTEP from other programming environments. The system administration curriculum now covers Intel-platform installation and configuration issues as well as networking issues.

The charts below summarize the classes available on-site and through open enrollment.

Open enrollment classes--Developer classes

Course	Description	Who should attend	Prerequisites
Introducing NEXTSTEP	Entry point to the	Technical evaluators and	Experience programming
	NEXTSTEP environment	programmers new to	in a high-level language
		NEXTSTEP
Programming NEXTSTEP	NEXTSTEP programming	Programmers with some	Introducing NEXTSTEP
(Developer Camp)	essentials	NEXTSTEP exposure	or equivalent experience
Programming	Essentials of Database	NEXTSTEP programmers	Programming NEXTSTEP
Database Kit	Kit programming
Advanced NEXTSTEP	Advanced techniques	NEXTSTEP programmers	Programming NEXTSTEP
	in NEXTSTEP

Open enrollment classes-- System administration classes

Course	Description	Who should attend	Prerequisites
Configuring NEXTSTEP	Overview of NEXTSTEP	Technical support	None
	and install/config specifics	personnel responsible
		for setup/startup
NEXTSTEP System	Essentials of NEXTSTEP	Technical staff responsible	System administration
Administration	system administration	for system administration	experience
Fast-track NEXTSTEP	Essentials of NEXTSTEP	UNIX-literate technical	UNIX and NEXTSTEP
System Administration	system administration for	staff responsible for	experience
	experienced UNIX users	system administration

On-site developer classes--Introductory classes

Course	Description	Who should attend	Prerequisites
Introducing NEXTSTEP	Entry point for new	Technical evaluators	Experience programming
	programmers and technical	and programmers new to	in a high-level language
	evaluators	NEXTSTEP
Migrating from COBOL	Intro to NEXTSTEP using	Programmers currently	Experience in
	mainframe and COBOL	using COBOL	programming in COBOL
	correspondences
Migrating from Windows	Intro to NEXTSTEP using	Programmers currently	Experience in
	Windows correspondences	using Windows	programming in Windows
Migrating from C++	Intro to Objective C and	Programmers currently	Experience in
	the NEXTSTEP kits using	using C++	programming in C++
	C++ correspondences
Migrating from UNIX	Intro to Mach and the	Programmers currently	Experience in
	NEXTSTEP kits using UNIX	familiar with UNIX	programming in C
	vocabulary and style		under UNIX

On-site developer classes--Core classes

Course	Description	Who should attend	Prerequisites
NEXTSTEP Basics	Core elements of	Programmers with some	Introducing NEXTSTEP
(Developer Camp	Programming NEXTSTEP--	NEXTSTEP exposure	or equivalent experience
fundamentals)	a basis for other core
	classes
Application Kit	Add-on to NEXTSTEP	NEXTSTEP programmers	NEXTSTEP Basics
	Basics--general class for
	developing applications
Cooperating Applications	Add-on to NEXTSTEP	NEXTSTEP programmers	Programming NEXTSTEP
	Basics--inter-app		or NEXTSTEP Basics
	communication for writing
	client/server applications
Forms-based Applications	Add-on to NEXTSTEP	NEXTSTEP programmers	Programming NEXTSTEP
	Basics--for writing forms-		or NEXTSTEP Basics
	oriented apps
Designer's Introduction	Add-on to NEXTSTEP	NEXTSTEP programmers	Programming NEXTSTEP
to NEXTSTEP	Basics--for systems		or NEXTSTEP Basics
	architects and designers
Drawing	Add-on to NEXTSTEP	NEXTSTEP programmers	Programming NEXTSTEP
	Basics--for drawing-		or NEXTSTEP Basics
	intensive apps

On-site developer classes--Advanced classes

Course	Description	Who should attend	Prerequisites
Programming DatabaseKit	Essentials of Database	NEXTSTEP programmers	Programming NEXTSTEP
	Kit programming
Advanced NEXTSTEP	Advanced techniques in	NEXTSTEP programmers	Programming NEXTSTEP
	NEXTSTEP

For more information...

For complete information about learning paths, course descriptions, the Mentorship Program, and pricing, please see the NEXTSTEP Support and Education catalog.

NEW WAYS TO GET SUPPORT

The changes at NeXT may have you wondering what's changed in the part of the company you probably interact with the most: support. We're happy to say that NeXT's team of experienced support engineers remains the primary means of technical support. These engineers are ready to provide prompt, reliable telephone and e-mail response to systems and development questions--whether you're a corporate user, developer, reseller, or manager of a large systems network.

However, we have changed our support to help you help yourself. You can now get free answers to many technical questions, access a pay-per-call or per-year hotline, subscribe to a program of new software releases and hotline support, or sign up for Premium Support, which includes a dedicated support engineer and on-site support.

Here's a quick rundown of what's available.

Free support through NeXTanswers

Answers to many technical questions about NEXTSTEP can be faxed or e-mailed to you for free through our document retrieval system, NeXTanswers. You can get information on NEXTSTEP for Intel Processors configuration and compatibility, installation instructions, lists of known bugs and workarounds, articles from NEXTSTEP In Focus, and information on a variety of other topics. NeXTanswers is available 24 hours a day by phone at (415) 780-3990, or by Internet e-mail at NeXTanswers@next.com.

Pay-Per-Call Support

If you need only occasional technical help that's not covered by NeXTanswers, you can use Pay-Per-Call Support for direct, personal assistance with installation, configuration, networking, and system administration, as well as for development support.

For prompt response to your question or problem, call 1-800-848-NeXT (outside North America, call (415) 424-8500) for support. A customer representative will ask for payment information and a brief problem description, and help you with your problem. Or, you can send your questions by e-mail to Ask_NeXT@next.com.

Developer and Systems Support Hotline

For priority response to technical questions on an unlimited, annual basis, you can sign up for the Developer Hotline or Systems Support Hotline. The Systems Hotline focuses on system administration and network management, while the Developer Hotline provides support for questions regarding the NEXTSTEP Developer environment.

With a Hotline subscription, you designate two people at your site to be the site contacts. These two people can call 1-800-848-NeXT (outside North America, (415) 424-8500) from 6am to 5pm (PST) with your site's questions.

Software Maintenance Support

For a convenient and automatic way to stay current on NEXTSTEP software, plan and budget your annual support costs, and save money over time, you can select Software Maintenance Support. For an annual "per license" fee, you receive automatic delivery of all major and minor software releases, two subscriptions to NEXTSTEP In Focus, and a quarterly CD-ROM with updated information from NeXTanswers.

Premium Support

Premium Support is NeXT's highest level of technical support. Under this program, you receive priority response from a dedicated technical support engineer. In addition to being available by phone, your dedicated support engineer spends 12 days each year at your site to provide advice, education, and problem-solving assistance to your system management or development team. You can also assign up to six contacts at your site who can access the hotline.

We're here to help

NeXT is committed to providing support and education to empower NEXTSTEP users, third party developers, and commercial developers. These new support options help you get answers to your questions as easily as possible, so you can focus on getting your work done.

If you'd like more information on support, please call 1-800-848-NeXT (outside North America, call (415) 424-8500), or fax (415) 363-5188.

HOW TO TALK TO NEXT

You can reach NeXT several different ways. We look forward to hearing from you!

To reach NeXT in North America

Information, product registration, and order status

		To get NeXT literature or find the location of your nearest NeXT sales office or reseller, call 1-800-TRY-NeXT.
		To order or get information about support products, or to register new NeXT products and one-year limited warranties, call 1-800-848-NeXT and press option 4, fax (415) 363-5188, or write us at:
		Customer Support NeXT Computer, Inc. 900 Chesapeake Drive Redwood City, CA 94063 U.S.A.
		For product order status, call 1-800-848-NeXT and press option 5 or fax 1-800-228-NeXT.

Technical support

		For answers to many technical questions, use NeXTanswers, NeXT's document retrieval system. To get documents by fax using a touch-tone phone, call (415) 780-3990 and follow the instructions. To get documents by Internet e-mail, send mail containing the word "HELP" to the address NeXTanswers@next.com; instructions will be mailed back to you. (There's no charge to use NeXTanswers.)
		For technical support through the System Support or Developer Hotline, call 1-800-848-NeXT and press option 4, or send e-mail to the address Ask_NeXT@next.com. (There's a charge for this support.)
		To comment on the quality of support you receive, send e-mail to the address Sysadmin_Comments@next.com or to Developer_Comments@next.com You can also fax comments to (415) 363-5188.

NEXTSTEP In Focus

		E-mail comments and questions for NEXTSTEP In Focus to In_Focus@next.com, or send them by U.S. mail to:
		NEXTSTEP In Focus NeXT Computer, Inc. 900 Chesapeake Drive Redwood City, CA 94063 U.S.A.

Training

To register for or get information about training in North America, call 1-800-848-NeXT and press option 2. If you're calling from outside North America, call (510) 732-5069.

Reporting bugs

To report NEXTSTEP software problems and suspected bugs, send e-mail to the address Bug_NeXT@next.com. (Use the BugNeXT application, in /NextDeveloper/Demos.)

To reach NeXT in Europe

Contact NeXT's European Headquarters or find out about your nearest NeXT representative by calling or faxing:

NeXT Computer Germany GmbH Oskar-Messter-Strasse 24 8045 Ismaning Germany Telephone: +49/89.996.5310 Fax: +49/89.961.2392