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As a Linux/Windows developer, Swift remains a toy language as it cannot be used to do develop useful applications for Linux and Windows, where I make all of my

As a Linux/Windows developer, Swift remains a toy language as it cannot be used to do develop useful applications for Linux and Windows, where I make all of my money.

Longhanks 10y ago
As a Linux/Windows developer, you probably are not the primary target audience of Swift. As a developer for Apple platforms, am I right to consider C# or Java toy languages, too?
- optimiz3 10y ago
  There are thousands of Apple and Android C# apps (see Xamarin).
  - coldtea 10y ago
    Which, again, is besides the point. The parent was mocking the idea that just because a language doesn't support a platform it can be called a "toy language". C# that he mentioned wouldn't be toy languages even if there were 0 Apple and Android C# apps. It would just be a totally professional Windows language with no Android/iOS support. C# was professional even when it only supported Windows (and partially FreeBSD), before Mono came along...
    - comex 10y ago
      > C# was professional even when it only supported Windows (and partially FreeBSD), before Mono came along... As well as the decade-plus when Mono existed but wasn't owned by Microsoft, making cross-platform support merely incidental or even a negative from Microsoft's perspective.
- thehardsphere 10y ago
  There are many Java apps for Mac and Apple used to provide its own implementation of the JRE.
coldtea 10y ago
>As a Linux/Windows developer As a Linux/Windows developer you are not the target audience (which I already addressed). Besides, just because you can't use it, it doesn't make it a toy language, just a language that doesn't have support (or full support) for Linux. A toy language has a specific meaning, it's not a generic work for "language I can't use professionally on my platform/industry". I can't use Forth to make web apps either, which is were I make all of my money, but it's not a toy language by any means.
- JdeBP 10y ago
  Yes, it's wrong to be dismissive like that. But no, "toy language" does not have a specific meaning. It is a slang insult, not a proper technical term.
ufmace 10y ago
Seems like a bit much to say that it's a toy language because it can't (currently) be used to write Linux or Windows applications. There's probably tens of thousands of developers at least making a living developing Swift applications. I bet there's more people making money writing Swift than Haskell and Lisp combined.

As a Linux/Windows developer, Swift remains a toy language as it cannot be used to do develop useful applications for Linux and Windows, where I make all of my money.

Longhanks 10y ago

As a Linux/Windows developer, you probably are not the primary target audience of Swift. As a developer for Apple platforms, am I right to consider C# or Java toy languages, too?

optimiz3 10y ago
There are thousands of Apple and Android C# apps (see Xamarin).
- coldtea 10y ago
  Which, again, is besides the point. The parent was mocking the idea that just because a language doesn't support a platform it can be called a "toy language". C# that he mentioned wouldn't be toy languages even if there were 0 Apple and Android C# apps. It would just be a totally professional Windows language with no Android/iOS support. C# was professional even when it only supported Windows (and partially FreeBSD), before Mono came along...
  - comex 10y ago
    > C# was professional even when it only supported Windows (and partially FreeBSD), before Mono came along... As well as the decade-plus when Mono existed but wasn't owned by Microsoft, making cross-platform support merely incidental or even a negative from Microsoft's perspective.
thehardsphere 10y ago
There are many Java apps for Mac and Apple used to provide its own implementation of the JRE.

coldtea 10y ago

>As a Linux/Windows developer As a Linux/Windows developer you are not the target audience (which I already addressed). Besides, just because you can't use it, it doesn't make it a toy language, just a language that doesn't have support (or full support) for Linux. A toy language has a specific meaning, it's not a generic work for "language I can't use professionally on my platform/industry". I can't use Forth to make web apps either, which is were I make all of my money, but it's not a toy language by any means.

JdeBP 10y ago
Yes, it's wrong to be dismissive like that. But no, "toy language" does not have a specific meaning. It is a slang insult, not a proper technical term.

ufmace 10y ago

Seems like a bit much to say that it's a toy language because it can't (currently) be used to write Linux or Windows applications. There's probably tens of thousands of developers at least making a living developing Swift applications. I bet there's more people making money writing Swift than Haskell and Lisp combined.