Apple’s Swift programming language is now being formally prolonged to assist Android app improvement by means of the institution of a dedicated Android Working Group throughout the Swift open-source venture.
Initially launched by Apple in 2014 as a contemporary programming language for iOS, macOS, watchOS, and tvOS, Swift has since expanded to incorporate official assist for Linux and Home windows. The Swift venture this week introduced a proper effort to assist Android as a goal platform, enabling builders to make use of Swift to construct purposes for Google’s cellular working system utilizing official tooling and infrastructure.
In line with the Swift forums, the Android Working Group’s constitution outlines a transparent set of tasks aimed toward integrating Android into Swift’s formally supported platform ecosystem. These embrace guaranteeing Swift will be compiled and run on Android with out counting on unofficial forks or downstream modifications, enhancing Swift’s customary libraries for higher compatibility with Android APIs, and introducing native instruments and workflows for builders concentrating on Android utilizing Swift.
Traditionally, growing Android purposes utilizing Swift has been potential solely by means of third-party options such because the Scade framework or through customized toolchains created by particular person builders. These approaches typically required a big quantity of customized configuration, lacked full assist for Android APIs, and launched upkeep burdens attributable to compatibility points with new Swift releases.
One of many major preliminary targets is to enhance assist for Android within the official Swift distribution, eradicating the necessity for out-of-tree patches or community-maintained forks, together with establishing correct toolchain integration for Android targets and acquiring consistency with different formally supported platforms. The working group additionally plans to suggest enhancements to core Swift libraries, akin to Basis and Dispatch, in order that they higher align with Android platform conventions and behaviors.
Android app improvement is presently dominated by Kotlin, which was introduced as Google’s most well-liked language for Android in 2017.