“First, there must be an assembly technology so that standard parts can be assembled into special-purpose configurations. [Objective-C creator Brad Cox] called this process “binding” and described two kinds of binding, “static” and “dynamic”. He compared static binding to forging and casting, manufacturing technologies that are usually performed by a supplier. In contrast, screwing, bolting, welding, soldering, pinning, and riveting are assembly technologies typically used by consumers. This is what Cox called dynamic binding. What is important is that with dynamic binding, it is the consumer who is in control.
Tim Burks: Finding the Software Industrial Revolution
I’ve never been a fan of attempts to transform software engineering into an industrial process, but it’s fascinating to read about the industrial metaphors that led Objective-C creator Brad Cox to champion dynamic minimalism at a time when the rest of the world was embracing static, heavyweight C++. I’m not convinced we’ll ever quite see the software “Industrial Revolution” Cox envisioned, but I do believe quite strongly that Objective-C’s dynamism is directly responsible for the elegance and power of the NeXTStep framework (the predecessor of Apple’s Cocoa framework), and by extension, for a lot of the greatness of today’s Mac and iOS software.
