<s>
The	B-Language
Internet	I-Language
Foundation	I-Language
Classes	I-Language
(	O
IFC	O
)	O
is	O
a	O
GUI	B-Application
widget	B-Library
toolkit	I-Library
and	O
graphics	B-Library
library	I-Library
for	O
Java	B-Language
originally	O
developed	O
by	O
Netcode	O
Corporation	O
and	O
first	O
released	O
by	O
Netscape	O
Corporation	O
on	O
December	O
16	O
,	O
1996	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
Java	B-Language
IFC	O
was	O
fairly	O
close	O
to	O
the	O
early	O
versions	O
of	O
the	O
Objective-C	B-Language
NeXTStep	B-Application
classes	O
for	O
NeXT	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
This	O
ecosystem	O
was	O
attractive	O
to	O
NeXT	O
application	O
developers	O
interested	O
in	O
looking	O
at	O
the	O
Java	B-Language
language	I-Language
.	O
</s>
<s>
On	O
April	O
2	O
,	O
1997	O
,	O
Sun	O
Microsystems	O
and	O
Netscape	O
announced	O
their	O
intention	O
to	O
combine	O
IFC	O
with	O
other	O
technologies	O
to	O
form	O
the	O
Java	B-Language
Foundation	I-Language
Classes	I-Language
.	O
</s>
<s>
Ultimately	O
,	O
Sun	O
merged	O
the	O
IFC	O
with	O
other	O
technologies	O
under	O
the	O
name	O
"	O
Swing	B-Language
"	O
,	O
adding	O
the	O
capability	O
for	O
a	O
pluggable	O
look	B-Application
and	I-Application
feel	I-Application
of	O
the	O
widgets	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Because	O
its	O
technology	O
has	O
been	O
merged	O
to	O
constitute	O
Swing	B-Language
and	O
Java	B-Language
2D	I-Language
,	O
IFC	O
is	O
now	O
no	O
longer	O
maintained	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Swing	B-Language
drew	O
a	O
lot	O
of	O
features	O
from	O
IFC	O
:	O
</s>
<s>
contrary	O
to	O
AWT	B-Language
,	O
IFC	O
were	O
written	O
in	O
pure	O
Java	B-Language
,	O
thus	O
being	O
(	O
at	O
the	O
time	O
)	O
browser-independent	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
some	O
IFC	O
components	O
were	O
able	O
to	O
read	O
HTML	B-Language
content	O
from	O
URLs	O
,	O
but	O
the	O
implementation	O
was	O
still	O
far	O
from	O
reliable	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
However	O
,	O
Swing	B-Language
also	O
improved	O
IFC	O
in	O
a	O
lot	O
of	O
ways	O
:	O
</s>
<s>
contrary	O
to	O
Swing	B-Language
,	O
the	O
Look	B-Application
and	I-Application
feel	I-Application
of	O
IFC	O
components	O
was	O
written	O
in	O
the	O
components	O
themselves	O
,	O
making	O
it	O
impossible	O
to	O
change	O
it	O
easily	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
IFC	O
had	O
a	O
specific	O
persistence	O
mechanism	O
,	O
but	O
it	O
was	O
a	O
bit	O
complex	O
,	O
and	O
not	O
compatible	O
with	O
the	O
Java	B-Language
Serialization	B-Application
API	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
event	O
mechanism	O
was	O
still	O
raw	O
,	O
and	O
the	O
Event	B-General_Concept
loop	I-General_Concept
sometimes	O
needed	O
to	O
be	O
accessed	O
directly	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
To	O
be	O
compared	O
with	O
the	O
equivalent	O
Java	B-Language
Swing	I-Language
code	O
:	O
</s>
