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Computing Atlas

How Computing Was Built

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Languages

Objective-C

Object-Oriented Language

Citation Formats

General Reference

Computing Atlas. "Objective-C." Accessed August 30, 2026. https://dev-computing.interactiveatlas.org/languages/objective-c.

APA Style

Computing Atlas. (n.d.). Objective-C. Retrieved August 30, 2026, from https://dev-computing.interactiveatlas.org/languages/objective-c

BibTeX

@misc{computingatlas-objective-c,
  author = {Computing Atlas},
  title = {Objective-C},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://dev-computing.interactiveatlas.org/languages/objective-c},
  note = {Accessed August 30, 2026}
}

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.

Facts

First Released

1984 1

Paradigm

Reflective, class-based object-oriented; static, dynamic and weak typing discipline. 1

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. 1

Cross-Tradition Connections

In Field

Software Engineering

Source Wikipedia: Objective-C

Influenced By

Source Wikipedia: Objective-C

Invented By

Source Wikipedia: Objective-C

Preceded By

C

Source Wikipedia: Objective-C

Predecessor Of

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. Wikipedia: Objective-C

Wikimedia FoundationHistory section

Quote, History section

Objective-C was created mainly by Brad Cox and Tom Love in the early 1980s at their company Productivity Products International (PPI).

View the Source

1. Wikipedia: Objective-C

Wikimedia FoundationInfoboxView the Source

1. Wikipedia: Objective-C

Wikimedia FoundationPopularization through NeXT section

Quote, Popularization through NeXT section

In 1988, NeXT licensed Objective-C from StepStone (the new name of PPI, the owner of the Objective-C trademark).

View the Source

1. Wikipedia: Objective-C

Wikimedia FoundationInvented By: Brad CoxView the Source

1. Wikipedia: Objective-C

Wikimedia FoundationIn Field: Software EngineeringView the Source

1. Wikipedia: Objective-C

Wikimedia FoundationInfluenced By: Smalltalk, Syntax section

Quote, Influenced By: Smalltalk, Syntax section

Smalltalk-style message passing (messaging) to the C programming language

View the Source

1. Wikipedia: Objective-C

Wikimedia FoundationPreceded By: C, Syntax section

Quote, Preceded By: C, Syntax section

a strict superset of C

View the Source

Wikipedia: Swift (programming language)

Wikimedia FoundationPredecessor Of: SwiftView the Source

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