
Swift Language Launches Android Workgroup
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Swift Language Launches Android Workgroup
Swift was designed as a replacement for Objective-C, the previous default for Apple’s ecosystem. As of Dec 2015, Swift is open source, and you can participate at http://swift.org. The Android workgroup will: Improve and maintain Android support for the official Swift distribution, eliminating the need for out-of-tree or downstream patches.Recommend enhancements to core Swift packages such as Foundation and Dispatch to work better with Android idioms.Bringing Android support to Swift could significantly reduce the overhead for developers to build and maintain apps for both operating systems. The announcement is good news for developers since it will give them a viable option to improve cross-platform development.
Swift is the primary language for creating apps for Apple’s ecosystem, including macOS, iOS, and iPadOS. Swift was designed as a replacement for Objective-C, the previous default for Apple’s ecosystem. According to Chris Lattner, Swift’s creator, the language borrows modern features from a number of languages.
The Swift language is the product of tireless effort from a team of language experts, documentation gurus, compiler optimization ninjas, and an incredibly important internal dogfooding group who provided feedback to help refine and battle-test ideas. Of course, it also greatly benefited from the experiences hard-won by many other languages in the field, drawing ideas from Objective-C, Rust, Haskell, Ruby, Python, C#, CLU, and far too many others to list. As of Dec 2015, Swift is open source, and you can participate at http://swift.org.
According to a post on the Swift forums, the developers are working to add Android support.
We are excited to announce the creation of the Android Workgroup! The primary goal of the Android workgroup is to establish and maintain Android as an officially supported platform for Swift. To learn more and get involved with the Android Workgroup: Read the Android Workgroup charter
Discuss ideas in the Android forum
Use the @android-workgroup handle to reach out to the workgroup directly in the forums
The Android Workgroup outlined its charter for moving forward.
The Android workgroup will: Improve and maintain Android support for the official Swift distribution, eliminating the need for out-of-tree or downstream patches
Recommend enhancements to core Swift packages such as Foundation and Dispatch to work better with Android idioms
Work with the Platform Steering Group to officially define platform support levels generally, and then work towards achieving official support of a particular level for Android
Determine the range of supported Android API levels and architectures for Swift integration
Develop continuous integration for the Swift project that includes Android testing in pull request checks.
Identify and recommend best practices for bridging between Swift and Android’s Java SDK and packaging Swift libraries with Android apps
Develop support for debugging Swift applications on Android
Advise and assist with adding support for Android to various community Swift packages
Good News for Developers
The announcement is good news for developers since it will give them a viable option to improve cross-platform development. Kotlin and Java are currently the primary languages for developing Android applications, neither of which is a valid option for Apple’s ecosystem. As a result, developers often have to maintain two completely separate code bases to bring their apps to both mobile ecosystems.
Bringing Android support to Swift could significantly reduce the overhead for developers to build and maintain apps for both operating systems.
Source: https://www.webpronews.com/swift-language-launches-android-workgroup/