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Swift Is Open Source
Swift, Apple's hot new programming language, is now open source. It is available (or will be once the web site isn't so overwhelmed!) for Mac and Linux under an Apache 2.0 license.
"Swift is now open source! We are excited by this new chapter in the story of Swift. After Apple unveiled the Swift programming language, it quickly became one of the fastest growing languages in history. Swift makes it easy to write software that is incredibly fast and safe by design. Now that Swift is open source, you can help make the best general purpose programming language available everywhere. "
Apple Open-Sources Swift and Releases Linux port, as Promised
Apple's Swift programming language may eventually replace the respected but arcane Objective C as the native language for OS X and iOS development, but if you don't have a Mac you might be forgiven for not having taken an interest so far.
However, as MacRumors now reports, Apple have now delivered on their promise to open-source Swift and release a Linux port. It doesn't sound as if the Linux port is quite ready for production use just yet, but the source is out there. Does this mean that Swift is now a contender for general purpose programming?
(Note: at the time of writing, the servers at Swift.org are failing to live up to their name.)
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 05 2015, @01:49AM
RMS will definitely call it Free Software though and this development will probably please him greatly. It's under the Apache 2.0 License which is blessed by the FSF [gnu.org].
(emphasis added)
(Score: 2) by darkfeline on Saturday December 05 2015, @05:14AM
Except that Swift only compiles for Apple's proprietary OSes, which makes it kind of pointless.
It's like open source coffee beans, except these coffee beans can only be used in Apple's proprietary iCoffeeMakers. Kind of makes the open source or freedom aspect a moot point, don't you think?
"Here's some FOSS code. Oh by the way, it only runs on this proprietary OS that requires you to sell us your soul. Sorry about that. Oh by the way, the proprietary OS code isn't FOSS, so you have no idea if what you think the FOSS code is doing is actually what it's doing. Sorry about that. No, we do not log all your syscalls and send them to our servers for telemetry analysis. Promise."
Join the SDF Public Access UNIX System today!
(Score: 2) by choose another one on Saturday December 05 2015, @10:43AM
And Linux was tied to the i386 and therefore also pointless, and I can quote a professor on that...
One of the main points of FOSS, which you seem to have failed to grasp, is that if the developer goes bust, the hardware ceases production or the os goes out of support, source code remains useful in ways a binary does not. If it doesn't run on your device/os then you are free to port it, if you don't want to that is fine, the point is that you are free to do it and have the source.
If all you want is a shiny new binary pre-built for os/device of choice, then you are looking for the wrong kind of free.
(Score: 2) by darkfeline on Saturday December 05 2015, @02:54PM
Right, but you don't have the source for OSX, so the exercise is pointless.
FOSS must exist throughout the entire chain, or you still don't have freedom.
In fact, I will email RMS right now and confirm his position on this matter.
Join the SDF Public Access UNIX System today!
(Score: 3, Insightful) by choose another one on Saturday December 05 2015, @09:04PM
rms (it's lower case btw, always has been) himself spent many years working on free software to run on proprietary OSs, I think he would be surprised to hear that it was pointless or that the users of the software didn't have freedom as a result.
(Score: 2) by BasilBrush on Saturday December 05 2015, @11:05PM
What's the source code to OSX got to do with it? Swift is a language. It's a language that runs on OSX or Linux, or any other platform someone wants to port it to.
Hurrah! Quoting works now!
(Score: 3, Informative) by BasilBrush on Saturday December 05 2015, @11:03PM
You didn't even read the summary. Open Source Swift is available for Linux. Not even theoretically, but right now.
Hurrah! Quoting works now!
(Score: 2) by darkfeline on Sunday December 06 2015, @04:59AM
Unless I'm misunderstanding, the Swift compiler runs on Linux, but only compiles code for OSX and family. The end result of your compilation doesn't run on Linux, even if you run Swift on Linux.
Join the SDF Public Access UNIX System today!
(Score: 2) by BasilBrush on Sunday December 06 2015, @02:10PM
You are indeed misunderstanding. Write it on Linux, compile it on Linux, run it on Linux. And in the future any other OS someone ports it to.
Hurrah! Quoting works now!