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Moving “The Swift Programming Language” Book to Open Source

97 points by hasheddan 4y ago

rahkiin 4y ago
I wonder why this was not the case since the beginning. Open sourcing parts that in other languages have always been open source (Rust) is still something to praise but not a world shattering event.
- latexr 4y ago
  > but not a world shattering event. I don’t think anyone involved in the process would claim that it is. But as you alluded to, it’s still positive. And the type of news which fits well on HN.
- coldcode 4y ago
  Swift being open source makes sense that the book is too. Hopefully more and better examples will be added.
frou_dh 4y ago
I've always found it odd how they proactively delete previous editions of the EPUB book from the server. https://www.swift.org/documentation/#the-swift-programming-language-book https://www.swift.org/documentation/#the-swift-programming-l... For example, the currently offered EPUB book corresponds to the upcoming Swift 5.7 and has a "Beta" watermark on it. You think to yourself, I don't want to deal with beta stuff, and so edit the download link to "…Swift56.epub" instead of "…Swift57.epub". Nope - file not found! Beta book or nothing.
- mojuba 4y ago
  That's strange because my Books app still shows Swift 5.6. Are you on a beta version of macOS?
  - pjmlp 4y ago
    OP is talking about the Website.
- Pulcinella 4y ago
  Apple does this with their developer videos as well. Very few videos from before WWDC2015 are available (some from 2014 are, but not all of theme). I think they might still be on the server if you have the right URL, but otherwise they are inaccessible. It’s a shame because a lot of the information is still valid, even if the example code is in Obj-C. For example Apple demoed how to implement very cool, very custom CollectionView and UIKit Dynamics behaviors in some of those older videos and now it’s just gone. Edit: And they no longer update their documentation archive. At least it’s still available, there are a lot of very in-depth programming guides in there with information that is still 100% valid but not available on the normal documentation website.
  - Someone 4y ago
    Not complete, not official, but possibly useful: https://youtube.com/channel/UCOYNV2EifmBprMdSESVEu9g/videos https://youtube.com/channel/UCOYNV2EifmBprMdSESVEu9g/videos
  - WalterBright 4y ago
    Microsoft has also removed a lot of older reference material on things like ActiveX.
peppertree 4y ago
Great. Now do the same for API docs.
protomyth 4y ago
Is there an easy way to generate a pdf? EPub doesn't print well, and sometimes the eyes cannot take a screen.
- skyyler 4y ago
  Calibre will convert it to PDF for you. Might be overkill.

97 points by hasheddan 4y ago

I wonder why this was not the case since the beginning. Open sourcing parts that in other languages have always been open source (Rust) is still something to praise but not a world shattering event.

latexr 4y ago
> but not a world shattering event. I don’t think anyone involved in the process would claim that it is. But as you alluded to, it’s still positive. And the type of news which fits well on HN.
coldcode 4y ago
Swift being open source makes sense that the book is too. Hopefully more and better examples will be added.

frou_dh 4y ago

I've always found it odd how they proactively delete previous editions of the EPUB book from the server. https://www.swift.org/documentation/#the-swift-programming-language-book https://www.swift.org/documentation/#the-swift-programming-l... For example, the currently offered EPUB book corresponds to the upcoming Swift 5.7 and has a "Beta" watermark on it. You think to yourself, I don't want to deal with beta stuff, and so edit the download link to "…Swift56.epub" instead of "…Swift57.epub". Nope - file not found! Beta book or nothing.

mojuba 4y ago
That's strange because my Books app still shows Swift 5.6. Are you on a beta version of macOS?
- pjmlp 4y ago
  OP is talking about the Website.
Pulcinella 4y ago
Apple does this with their developer videos as well. Very few videos from before WWDC2015 are available (some from 2014 are, but not all of theme). I think they might still be on the server if you have the right URL, but otherwise they are inaccessible. It’s a shame because a lot of the information is still valid, even if the example code is in Obj-C. For example Apple demoed how to implement very cool, very custom CollectionView and UIKit Dynamics behaviors in some of those older videos and now it’s just gone. Edit: And they no longer update their documentation archive. At least it’s still available, there are a lot of very in-depth programming guides in there with information that is still 100% valid but not available on the normal documentation website.
- Someone 4y ago
  Not complete, not official, but possibly useful: https://youtube.com/channel/UCOYNV2EifmBprMdSESVEu9g/videos https://youtube.com/channel/UCOYNV2EifmBprMdSESVEu9g/videos
- WalterBright 4y ago
  Microsoft has also removed a lot of older reference material on things like ActiveX.

peppertree 4y ago

Great. Now do the same for API docs.

protomyth 4y ago

Is there an easy way to generate a pdf? EPub doesn't print well, and sometimes the eyes cannot take a screen.

skyyler 4y ago
Calibre will convert it to PDF for you. Might be overkill.