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I'm not sure why you're saying Swift is locked in to Apple platforms, it's definitely cross-platform. It's no problem to run Swift on Linux or Windows. Of cours
by wilg 3y ago
I'm not sure why you're saying Swift is locked in to Apple platforms, it's definitely cross-platform. It's no problem to run Swift on Linux or Windows. Of course, Apple's UI libraries aren't cross-platform. And they're putting a bunch of effort into making it better for servers and such. I wish more people realized how usable it is cross-platform, I think this is a misconception that hampers Swift adoption.
Swift is definitely my favorite programming language from a language standpoint. I really like the way Swift works. It's safe, concise without being terse, and easy to extend.
Sure, some people can argue there's some "bloat", but I think that's inevitable in a language that was designed to immediately be usable within Apple's existing APIs and frameworks. There's going to be complexity with Objective-C interop, C++ interop, etc. But that stuff is necessary for Swift to be usable for big projects. And I think Apple has done quite a good job of evolving Swift to be cleaner, clearer, more ergonomic, etc.
I'm very excited that there's a lot of effort behind an open-source, cross-platform type-safe, compiled language that also prioritizes ergonomic high-level programming.
- t0ps0il 3y ago> I'm not sure why you're saying Swift is locked in to Apple platforms, it's definitely cross-platform I think the key word in OPs comment is "effectively". The tools for building cross platform Swift exist and work in various levels but they aren't at the point where you would want to choose Swift over existing cross platform tools.
- wilg 3y agoThat caveat does not match the definition of “effectively” to me.
- SubjectToChange 3y agoI don't trust Apple to care about platforms or developers that aren't directly benefiting them.
- duped 3y agoThey barely care about developers for their own platforms. Their docs are atrocious.
- wilg 3y agoWho do you trust to do that?
- SubjectToChange 3y agoLots of open source projects and foundations, or businesses where you can actually pay for guarantees. Apple just doesn’t like making solid commitments to outsiders, especially for something as mundane as legacy support. They want to mold swift into anything they want/need.