In 2014, Apple had introduced a new programming language ‘Swift’ which was meant to make coding easier for iOS or OS X based apps. Yesterday, Apple took a major step by making the language open source. Now, developers from outside will be able to make developments and bring it to new platforms like Windows or Android.
The company has already released the language on Linux through its partners IBM. IBM will now be able to make apps on the language and include them on the Linux servers, who already speak Swift. Apple has started paving the path for Swift to enter different platforms.
In a recent statement, Apple said that it wanted Swift to become one of the core programming languages in the next 20 years. If Swift becomes what the company says, it will benefit them as more people will be able to code apps on their devices.
Apple stated that it would run the open source project from the website Swift.org, and would the source code through GitHub. The company has also seeded the project with various tools, while frameworks like AppKit and UIKit will remain exclusive to Mac and iOS app development. However, the published core libraries include some components of AppKit and UIKit, like threading, common data types and networking stack.
Though Apple has not yet released any specific figures on how much uptake Swift has had with developers, it quoted a few examples of apps like LinkedIn and Yahoo weather which use Swift. The language is supposed to be faster than its predecessors and will also be able to link with tvOS and watchOS.
Through Apple’s backing, the software seems to be making a lot of noise in the market and is already one of the famous languages, keeping the time gauge in mind. According to Tiobe, the website which rates programming languages has ranked Swift with a position of 15, keeping SQL and MATLAB below it.
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