The Zinc Application Framework is an application framework, intended for the development of cross-platform software applications with graphical user interface (GUI), using a widget toolkit. Zinc targets both embedded (such as Wind River's VxWorks) 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 its pricing policy and distributed the "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).

Further reading

  • Maxwell, Ken (November 1997). . Embedded Systems Programming. Vol. 10, no. 11. Miller Freeman, Inc. ISSN . from the original on February 12, 1998.
  • Parker, Tim (November 1997). . UNIX Review. Miller Freeman, Inc. ISSN . from the original on December 2, 1998.
  • Dragan, Rich (January 1998). . Windows Sources. Ziff-Davis. ISSN . from the original on December 5, 1998.
  • Xinxin, Liu (2004). . Computer & Digital Engineering. CNKI. 2004-01. Archived from on 21 May 2018.

External links

  • — 2007
  • — open-source software project based on Zinc up to version 4.2