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Another interesting thing to note is that because Swift really began in roughly mid-2010, Steve Jobs probably had his hand at least slightly in it (obviously no

Another interesting thing to note is that because Swift really began in roughly mid-2010, Steve Jobs probably had his hand at least slightly in it (obviously not as a programmer). I guess my point being that there was likely some more specific reason for why it gained momentum later.

thinkpad20 12y ago
I dunno, it's possible but OTOH it's hard to imagine a guy like Steve Jobs, for whom (as far as I know) coding wasn't a primary concern, and who was dealing with cancer and much bigger fish in the i* products, being any more than tangentially involved in what would have been at the time a fledgling research language project. He was probably aware that it was happening, but I doubt that he played much of a role. Apple is after all a massive company filled with many smart people and who knows how many research projects.
- grecy 12y ago
  I think it very likely Apple have all kinds of 1, 2, 5 and 10 year road maps for all their products (software and hardware). Given that almost all of them rely so heavily on Objective-C, I expect they've had a road map for that (and XCode and the whole tool chain) for a very long time. Given the plan is now to phase out ObjC and replace it entirely with Swift, I think it's extremely unlikely Steve didn't know about it, and endorse it.
  - Alphasite_ 12y ago
    He did say that it wasn't A major Apple focus until last year, when they actually got together and did all the end work.
    - grecy 12y ago
      It might not have been a major focus until last year, but I'll bet it was on road maps for many, many years preceding that.