Carbon (API)

Carbon (API)

Carbon is a software development application programming interface (API) created by Apple Inc. for the macOS operating system. It was designed to provide a bridge for developers to transition their applications from the Classic Mac OS to the modern macOS environment. Carbon was introduced in 2000 with the release of Mac OS X and was deprecated in 2012 with the release of OS X Mountain Lion.

History[edit | edit source]

Carbon was developed as part of Apple's strategy to ease the transition from the Classic Mac OS to Mac OS X. The Classic Mac OS had a long history and a large base of existing applications, and Apple needed a way to support these applications on the new macOS platform. Carbon provided a set of APIs that were similar to those in the Classic Mac OS, allowing developers to port their applications with minimal changes.

Features[edit | edit source]

Carbon provided a comprehensive set of APIs for graphical user interface (GUI) development, file handling, memory management, and other core functionalities. Some of the key features included:

**Event Handling**: Carbon introduced a new event model that was more flexible and powerful than the one in the Classic Mac OS.
**Unicode Support**: Carbon provided full support for Unicode, allowing developers to create applications that could handle multiple languages and character sets.
**Improved Memory Management**: Carbon introduced a new memory management model that was more robust and easier to use than the one in the Classic Mac OS.
**Compatibility**: Carbon was designed to be compatible with existing Classic Mac OS applications, allowing developers to port their applications with minimal changes.

Deprecation[edit | edit source]

With the release of OS X Mountain Lion in 2012, Apple officially deprecated Carbon. Developers were encouraged to transition to the Cocoa (API), which provided a more modern and powerful set of APIs for macOS development. The deprecation of Carbon marked the end of an era for many long-time Mac developers, but it also paved the way for the adoption of more modern development practices and technologies.

References[edit | edit source]

External Links[edit | edit source]

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