The Zinc Application Framework is an
application framework
In computer programming, an application framework consists of a software framework used by software developers to implement the standard structure of application software.
Application frameworks became popular with the rise of graphical user inter ...
, intended for the development of
cross-platform
In 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 software ...
software application
Software is a set of computer programs and associated documentation and data. This is in contrast to hardware, from which the system is built and which actually performs the work.
At the lowest programming level, executable code consists ...
s with
graphical user interface
The GUI ( "UI" by itself is still usually pronounced . or ), graphical user interface, is a form of user interface that allows users to interact with electronic devices through graphical icons and audio indicator such as primary notation, inst ...
(GUI), using a
widget toolkit
A widget toolkit, widget library, GUI toolkit, or UX library is a library or a collection of libraries containing a set of graphical control elements (called ''widgets'') used to construct the graphical user interface (GUI) of programs.
Most widge ...
. Zinc targets both embedded (such as
Wind River's VxWorks
VxWorks is a real-time operating system (or RTOS) developed as proprietary software by Wind River Systems, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Aptiv. First released in 1987, VxWorks is designed for use in embedded systems requiring real-time, determi ...
) and desktop platforms.
History
In 1990 Zinc Software released its first software development package Zinc Interface Library as a tool for
Borland Turbo C++. This package allowed creation of text and graphics based user interface, initially only for DOS applications and since the 2.0 release also for Windows programs.
In 1994 Zinc Software introduced version 4.0 of its C++ tool under Zinc Application Framework name. Zinc aimed at cross-platform development of the user interface supporting DOS, Windows, Mac and Unix.
With the release of the version 5 in 1997, Zinc Software changed pricing policy and distributed "Personal Version" of the Zinc Application Framework free of charge for non-commercial use - including source code and limited only by lack of technical support and distribution rights.
Zinc Software was acquired in 1998 by Wind River and continued to operate as a subsidiary.
In 2004 Zinc Software was sold to Professional Software Associates (PSA).
References
Further reading
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*{{cite journal, url=http://en.cnki.com.cn/Article_en/CJFDTOTAL-JSSG200401014.htm, access-date=20 May 2018, first=Liu, last=Xinxin, publisher=
CNKI, title=Zinc Application Framework and Its Program Design, journal=Computer & Digital Engineering, date=2004, id=2004-01, url-access=limited
External links
PSA Zinc Development— 2007
OpenZinc— open-source software project based on Zinc up to version 4.2
Widget toolkits