Newton

Newton is a line of handheld, pen-based computers made by Apple Computer (now Apple Inc.) in the 1990’s. The “Original” MessagePad (at left) was released in 1993, followed by the MessagePads 110, 120, 130, 2000, and finally the MessagePad 2100 in 1996.

I joined Apple in 1988 as an intern on the Newton team and worked there until 1996.

I am the proprietor of the Newton Museum, and someday plan to provide better web access to the collection.

Here are some articles and papers about Newton OS written by various members of the Newton team:

• Class-based NewtonScript Programming PDF, an article for PIE Developers magazine describing a technique for structuring a NewtonScript program using class-like objects.
• An introduction PDF for a reprint of Ungar and Smith’s paper Self: the power of simplicity in PIE Developers magazine.
• A Model for Address-Based Software and Hardware PDF, a paper presented at the 1992 Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences. Gives the underlying principles of Newton OS kernel memory interfaces, and the rationale for the ARM processor’s unusual MMU design.
• The Newton Application Architecture PDF, a paper presented at the 1994 IEEE Computer Conference.
• The Newton Operating System PDF, a paper presented at the 1994 IEEE Computer Conference.
• Low Power Hardware for a High Performance PDA PDF, a paper presented at the 1994 IEEE Computer Conference.
• Using a prototype-based language for user interface programming:the Newton project’s experience PDF, a paper presented at OOPSLA ’95.

Also try your favorite search engine to find various archives of Newton info. There are several out there.