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Leopard Reference Library
Darwin is the UNIX technology-based foundation of Mac OS X. Darwin integrates several technologies. Among the most important are 4.4BSD-based operating-system services (built on the Mach 3.0 microkernel), the I/O Kit, networking facilities, and support for multiple integrated file systems. Developers can use Darwin to port UNIX/Linux applications and create kernel extensions.
A guided introduction and learning path for developers new to Darwin.   Essential information for developers working in the Darwin environment.   C and Objective-C API references organized by framework.
Darwin Topics
File Management
Low-level interfaces for obtaining information about files and directories. 		 
Hardware & Drivers
Open source programming interfaces that support access to devices. 		 
Intel-Based Macs
Developer support for optimizing UNIX-based code for Intel-based Macs.
Interprocess Communication
Communication between processes using BSD layer APIs. 		 
Kernel
The most fundamental layer of the Mac OS X operating system. 		 
Networking
Low-level open source networking and communication technologies.
Open Source
Open source technologies, including Darwin, WebCore, and Streaming Server. 		 
Performance
Resources for measuring, evaluating, and improving Darwin code performance. 		 
Porting
Guidance in adapting low-level code and drivers to the Darwin platform.
Printing
Printing technologies in the open source foundation of Mac OS X. 		 
Process Management
Low-level facilities to help programs manage their scheduling and execution. 		 
Resource Management
Low-level routines for managing resources such as power and memory.
Runtime Architecture
Facilities to prepare low-level code for execution and support it at execution time. 		 
Security
Security-related programming techniques for the lowest level of Mac OS X. 		 
Tools
Open source developer tools such as GCC and GDB.
View legacy documents, including technologies, features, products, APIs, and programming techniques that are no longer supported or have been superseded.