3 ms·
Swift is in considerably better shape than Obj-C is when it comes to cross platform. It’s not perfect, but it’s at least usable (there are production back ends
by kitsunesoba 4y ago
Swift is in considerably better shape than Obj-C is when it comes to cross platform. It’s not perfect, but it’s at least usable (there are production back ends written in Swift for example), it’s been slowly getting better, and Apple recently committed to filling many of the holes/inconsistencies in cross-platform with their announcement to rewrite Foundation in Swift and make it open source.
By contrast, Obj-C couldn’t even allocate memory without the assistance of AppKit, UIKit, or GNUStep. On its own it was woefully incomplete.
As for UI frameworks, porting SwiftUI would be a tall order with how it’s partially built on top of AppKit/UIKit. The most we’d probably get if it were open sourced is the surface bits, not the underpinnings.
- bsaul 4y agoChris lattner had very clearly stated objectives for the language, and at some point cross-platform swift was a real possibility : at the time when a few server framework were created and when people at google were using it. Why this never lasted, i don’t know (my guess is the reason was purely political). Unfortunately all those options got cancelled, and now apple remain on its own using it. I don’t believe in cross-platform swift anymore.