Think C (stylized as THINK C), originally known as LightSpeed C, is an extension of the C programming language for the

classic Mac OS Mac OS (originally System Software; retronym: Classic Mac OS) is the series of operating systems developed for the Mac (computer), Macintosh family of personal computers by Apple Computer, Inc. from 1984 to 2001, starting with System 1 and end ...

developed by THINK Technologies, released first in mid-1986. THINK was founded by Andrew Singer, Frank Sinton and Mel Conway. LightSpeed C was widely lauded when it was released, as it used the Macintosh user interface throughout and was extremely fast. It quickly became the ''de facto'' C environment on the Mac, and the related

Think Pascal In their most common sense, the terms thought and thinking refer to cognitive processes that can happen independently of sensory stimulation. Their most paradigmatic forms are judging, reasoning, concept formation, problem solving, and deliber ...

quickly did the same for

Object Pascal Object Pascal is an extension to the programming language Pascal (programming language), Pascal that provides object-oriented programming (OOP) features such as Class (computer programming), classes and Method (computer programming), methods. T ...

development. THINK Technologies was later bought by

Symantec Symantec may refer to: * Gen Digital, an American consumer software company formerly known as Symantec * Symantec Security, a brand of enterprise security software purchased by Broadcom Broadcom Inc. is an American multinational corporation, ...

Corporation and the product continued to be developed by the original author, Michael Kahl. Versions 3 and later were essentially a subset of

C++ C++ (, pronounced "C plus plus" and sometimes abbreviated as CPP or CXX) is a high-level, general-purpose programming language created by Danish computer scientist Bjarne Stroustrup. First released in 1985 as an extension of the C programmin ...

and supported basic

object-oriented programming Object-oriented programming (OOP) is a programming paradigm based on the concept of '' objects''. Objects can contain data (called fields, attributes or properties) and have actions they can perform (called procedures or methods and impl ...

(OOP) concepts such as

single inheritance Multiple inheritance is a feature of some object-oriented computer programming languages in which an object or class can inherit features from more than one parent object or parent class. It is distinct from single inheritance, where an object o ...

, and extensions to the C standard that conformed more closely to the needs of Mac OS programming. After version 6, the OOP facilities were expanded to a full C++

implementation Implementation is the realization of an application, execution of a plan, idea, scientific modelling, model, design, specification, Standardization, standard, algorithm, policy, or the Management, administration or management of a process or Goal ...

, and the product was rebranded Symantec C++ starting version 7, then under development by different authors. Version 8 brought support for compiling to

PowerPC PowerPC (with the backronym Performance Optimization With Enhanced RISC – Performance Computing, sometimes abbreviated as PPC) is a reduced instruction set computer (RISC) instruction set architecture (ISA) created by the 1991 Apple Inc., App ...

. Think's almost complete ownership of the Mac programming market was broken with the introduction of the

-based Macs in the early 1990s. Although Symantic released updates that ran on these platforms, these were not released until the machines had been on the market for almost a year. In the meantime,

Metrowerks Metrowerks was a company that developed software development tools for various desktop, handheld, embedded, and gaming platforms. Its flagship product, CodeWarrior, comprised an Integrated Development Environment, IDE, compilers, Linker (computin ...

' product,

CodeWarrior CodeWarrior is an integrated development environment (IDE) published by NXP Semiconductors for editing, compiling, and debugging software for several microcontrollers and microprocessors (NXP ColdFire, Freescale ColdFire, ColdFire+, Kinetis, Qori ...

, took control of the market, being both faster and easier to use than Think's. Starting with version 4.0, Think included the

Think Class Library In their most common sense, the terms thought and thinking refer to cognitive processes that can happen independently of sensory stimulation. Their most paradigmatic forms are judging, reasoning, concept formation, problem solving, and deliber ...

(TCL), a

class library In computing, a library is a collection of resources that can be leveraged during software development to implement a computer program. Commonly, a library consists of executable code such as compiled functions and classes, or a library can ...

and framework for Mac programming that ran under both Think C and Think Pascal. This largely replaced

MacApp MacApp is the object oriented application framework for Apple Computer's discontinued classic Mac OS. Released in 1985, it transitioned from Object Pascal to C++ in 1991's version 3.0 release, which offered support for much of System 7's new fu ...

as the ''de facto'' class library for Mac programming. Like Think C, this remained a market leader until the release of Metrowerks'

PowerPlant Propulsion is the generation of force by any combination of pushing or pulling to modify the translational motion of an object, which is typically a rigid body (or an articulated rigid body) but may also concern a fluid. The term is derived from ...

, which was generally regarded to be superior. During the early-1990s, Think and Apple collaborated on a

cross platform Within computing, cross-platform software (also called multi-platform software, platform-agnostic software, or platform-independent software) is computer software that is designed to work in several computing platforms. Some cross-platform softw ...

library known as

Bedrock In geology, bedrock is solid rock that lies under loose material ( regolith) within the crust of Earth or another terrestrial planet. Definition Bedrock is the solid rock that underlies looser surface material. An exposed portion of bed ...

, but this effort was abandoned in 1993, by which time PowerPlant was the clear market leader. Despite the decline in popularity of their IDE, Symantec was eventually chosen by Apple to provide next-generation C/C++

compiler In computing, a compiler is a computer program that Translator (computing), translates computer code written in one programming language (the ''source'' language) into another language (the ''target'' language). The name "compiler" is primaril ...

s for MPW in the form of Sc/Scpp for 68K alongside MrC/MrCpp for PowerPC. These remained Apple's standard compilers until the arrival of

Mac OS X macOS, previously OS X and originally Mac OS X, is a Unix, Unix-based operating system developed and marketed by Apple Inc., Apple since 2001. It is the current operating system for Apple's Mac (computer), Mac computers. With ...

replaced them with the

GNU Compiler Collection The GNU Compiler Collection (GCC) is a collection of compilers from the GNU Project that support various programming languages, Computer architecture, hardware architectures, and operating systems. The Free Software Foundation (FSF) distributes ...

(GCC). Symantec subsequently exited the developer tool business.

THINK Reference

THINK Reference is a proprietary documentation database and browser developed by

for programmers on the

platform. It was included with the THINK C development environment sold by Symantec, and previously included with THINK Pascal. It contains a

hypertext Hypertext is E-text, text displayed on a computer display or other electronic devices with references (hyperlinks) to other text that the reader can immediately access. Hypertext documents are interconnected by hyperlinks, which are typic ...

version of

Apple Computer Apple Inc. is an American multinational corporation and technology company headquartered in Cupertino, California, in Silicon Valley. It is best known for its consumer electronics, software, and services. Founded in 1976 as Apple Computer Co ...

Macintosh Toolbox The Macintosh Toolbox implements many of the high-level features of the Classic Mac OS, including a set of application programming interfaces for software development on the platform. The Toolbox consists of a number of "managers," software compone ...

API An application programming interface (API) is a connection between computers or between computer programs. It is a type of software interface, offering a service to other pieces of software. A document or standard that describes how to build ...

specifications, along with illustrative code samples. THINK Reference was discontinued in 1994.

Reception

Bruce F. Webster of ''

BYTE The byte is a unit of digital information that most commonly consists of eight bits. Historically, the byte was the number of bits used to encode a single character of text in a computer and for this reason it is the smallest addressable un ...

'' named ''Lightspeed C'' product of the month for September 1986. While criticizing the documentation as its "single greatest weakness", Webster stated that Lightspeed C would be the choice if he had to select one compiler for the Macintosh. ''BYTE'' in 1989 listed Lightspeed C as among the "Distinction" winners of the Byte Awards, stating that it "wins our respect because of its powerful features and low price". ''THINK C 5.0'' obtained in 4 (out 5) rating in July 1992 issue of

Macworld ''Macworld'' is a digital magazine and website dedicated to products and software of Apple Inc., published by Foundry, a subsidiary of IDG. History ''Macworld'' was founded by David Bunnell and Cheryl Woodard (publishers) and Andrew Fl ...

, praising a fast compilation and an outstanding development environment, despite an insufficient documentation. ''Symantec C++ 8.0'' obtained a 3 (out 5) rating in July 1995 issue of

, comparing favourably the speed of its PowerPC compiled code with that of

at the time, but noting how delayed the product has been and its heavy requirement on resources.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Think C 1986 software Integrated development environments Macintosh-only software Classic Mac OS text editors Gen Digital software C (programming language) compilers C++ compilers Classic Mac OS programming tools