Why do Objective-C files use the .m extension?

Solution 1:

Today most people would refer to them as "method files", but

"The .m extension originally stood for "messages" when Objective-C was first introduced, referring to a central feature of Objective-C [...]"

(from the book "Learn Objective-C on the Mac" by Mark Dalrymple and Scott Knaster, page 9)

EDIT: To satisfy an itch I emailed Brad Cox, the inventor of Objective-C, about the question and he answered with this single line:

"Because .o and .c were taken. Simple as that."

Here's the email as visual proof:

Solution 2:

It stands for "methods". From the comp.lang.objective-C FAQ:

The organisation of Objective-C source is typically similar to that of C or C++ source code, with declarations and object interfaces going into header files named with a .h extension, and definitions and object implementations going in files named with a .m (short for methods) extension.