Project Builder
| Company type | Software |
|---|---|
| Industry | Software development |
| Founder | NeXT |
| Products | Integrated development environment (IDE) |
| Parent | NeXT (original), Apple Inc. (after acquisition) |
Project Builder was an integrated development environment (IDE) initially created by NeXT for the third iteration of the NeXTSTEP operating system. It originated by extracting the code editing capabilities from Interface Builder and turning them into a separate program.
Following Apple Computer's acquisition of NeXT and the subsequent adaptation of NeXTSTEP into Mac OS X, the original Project Builder transitioned into ProjectBuilderWO, which was mainly supported for WebObjects development purposes. Apple later engineered an entirely new version of Project Builder specifically for software creation, which made its first appearance in Developer Preview 4 of Mac OS X. Commonly referred to as PBX, this edition was bundled with early versions of Mac OS X until Mac OS X v10.3, when it underwent a redesign, merged back with Interface Builder, and was renamed Xcode.
Before the advent of OS X, Macintosh programmers primarily utilized tools such as Macintosh Programmer's Workshop or CodeWarrior.
The GNUstep environment offers ProjectCenter, an IDE that replicates the original NeXTSTEP interface, while ProjectManager, a third-party GNUstep IDE, provides improved user experience.