Project Builder

{{Short description|Software development environment}}

{{Infobox software

| name = Project Builder

| logo =

| screenshot =

| caption =

| developer = NeXT, Apple Inc.

| operating system = NeXTSTEP, macOS

| genre = Integrated development environment (IDE)

| license = Freeware with open-source components

| website =

| released = 3.0 / {{start date and age|1992|09|08}}

| discontinued = yes

| latest release version = 2.1

| latest release date = {{start date and age|2002|12|01}}{{cite web | url=https://www.osnews.com/story/2427/os-x-december-2002-developer-tools/ | title=OS X December 2002 Developer Tools | work=OSNews | accessdate=2022-01-15 }}

}}

Project Builder was an integrated development environment (IDE) originally developed by NeXT for version 3 of the NeXTSTEP operating system by separating out the code editing parts of Interface Builder into its own application.{{cite journal | url=http://simson.net/ref/1993/NeXTSTEP3.0.pdf | title=NeXTSTEP Programming, Step One: Object-Oriented Applications | first1=Simson | last1=Garfinkel | first2=Michael | last2=Mahoney | journal=Computers in Physics | date=1993 | volume=7 | issue=3 | page=287 | doi=10.1063/1.4823176 | bibcode=1993ComPh...7..287G }}

After Apple Computer purchased NeXT and turned NeXTSTEP into the Mac OS X operating system, the NeXTSTEP version of Project Builder became ProjectBuilderWO (maintained only for WebObjects development). Apple created a new Project Builder from scratch for software development with the first version being introduced with Developer Preview 4 of Mac OS X.{{cite web | url=https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2000/05/mac-os-x-dp4/ | title=Mac OS X DP4 | author=John Siracusa | date=May 24, 2000 | work=Ars Technica | accessdate=2022-01-15 }} This version of Project Builder, informally dubbed PBX.{{cite web | url=http://www.cocoabuilder.com/archive/cocoa/26936-getting-started-pb-pbx.html | title=Getting started PB -> PBX | first=Paul R. | last=Summermatter | date=March 25, 2001 | work=Cocoabuilder | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150429125029/http://www.cocoabuilder.com/archive/cocoa/26936-getting-started-pb-pbx.html | archive-date=2015-04-29 }} was distributed with the first few versions of Mac OS X but with the release of Mac OS X v10.3 it was redesigned, reintegrated with Interface Builder and rebranded as Xcode.{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=onyzCAAAQBAJ&dq=Project+Builder++IDE+NeXTSTEP&pg=PA36 | title=Professional Swift | first=Michael | last=Dippery | date=2 June 2015 | page=36 | publisher=John Wiley & Sons | isbn=9781119016779 | quote=Xcode is based on Project Builder, an IDE you use to write programs for the NeXTSTEP operating system, the forerunner of Mac OS X }}{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ddJxAKUlN-wC&dq=A+free+copy+of+Project+Builder+was+bundled+with+every+copy+of+OS+X.&pg=PA5 | page=5 | quote=A free copy of Project Builder was bundled with every copy of OS X | title=Xcode 4 | first=Richard | last=Wentk | date=June 2011 | publisher=John Wiley & Sons | isbn=9781118108260 }}{{cite web | url=http://www.macworld.com/article/1154045/software-utilities/osx-innovative-features.html | title=OS X's ten most innovative features | date=Sep 13, 2010 | work=Macworld | quote=...Included in the package was an IDE—Project Builder—that was a tweaked version of the IDE that came with NeXT, the OS whose acquisition laid much of the foundation for OS X. In 2003, Project Builder became the now familiar Xcode... }}

Before OS X, developers could use Macintosh Programmer's Workshop or CodeWarrior to develop Macintosh applications.

GNUstep's ProjectCenter IDE is a rough workalike of the original NextStep design; additional functionality is provided by ProjectManager, a 3rd-party GNUstep IDE meant for greater usability.