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Google to Add Swift Language Support to Fuchsia OS

Accepted submission by takyon at 2017-11-28 14:22:01
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Google will contribute changes to Apple's Swift [wikipedia.org] programming language, and will support the language [theverge.com] in the Fuchsia OS [wikipedia.org], a presumed replacement for Android, ChromeOS, etc. that is designed to work on all devices:

Fuchsia is Google's not-at-all-but-kind-of-secret operating system [theverge.com] that's being developed in the open, but with almost zero official messaging about what it's for, or what it's built to replace. (Android? Chrome OS? Both? Neither?) The operating system's core is written in mostly C and C++, with Dart for the default "Flutter" UI, but other languages like Go, Rust, Python, and now Swift have also found a home in the project.

Of course, just because you'll be able to compile Swift to run on Fuchsia doesn't mean you'll be able to instantly port any iOS app to Google's new OS when or if it ships. While Apple has open sourced the Swift language itself, much of the iOS platform (like the UI stuff, for instance) is closed source, so code that relies on those closed Apple libraries won't be portable.

One possible future in a world where Fuchsia is an important and relevant platform for apps is that you write the "core logic" of your app in your language of choice — Swift, Go, Rust, JavaScript, etc. — and then you build a custom UI for each platform — Android, iOS, Fuchsia, Linux, Windows, the web — using the appropriate tools for each.

Also at Android Police [androidpolice.com].

Previously: Google's New Non-Linux OS: Fuchsia [soylentnews.org]
Google's Not-So-Secret New OS [soylentnews.org]
Google Fuchsia UI Previewed [soylentnews.org]


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