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Swift on Windows

swift.org

41–50 of 209 posts

Re: Swift on Windows

#41

I haven't done Windows development in over 10 years, but I really wasn't expecting to see what appears to be a stripped down implementation of AppKit wrapped around the old Win32 APIs, like it's 1999. (Nor Hungarian Notation). I thought WPF or WinRT or UWP was supposed to have replaced Win32 by now.

I hope WinForms never dies, it is the OG Windows "look" and much less amenable to all the web-app looking BS that permeates desktop apps today

A lot of Windows Forms is non-Win32 controls with custom drawing, by the way. Especially things like menus, toolbars, etc. So a lot of Windows Forms controls are basically as native as WPF controls (just a lot harder to work with imho).

Re: Swift on Windows

#42
post #22

I really like Swift. Recently I've been using it as my "main" language in developing a macOS user interface for my MSc research project, and it has literally made developing fun! Great to see it getting more support outside of the Apple domain.

I wrote some swift maybe 4 or 5 years ago when I was doing mobile app stuff and had access to a Mac. I remember finding the language pretty enjoyable, but considered its xplat potential questionable. At the time, I believe it did run on linux and people were touting it as a solid platform for building server side applications. I dont think that was ever realized though.

Re: Swift on Windows

#43
post #22

I really like Swift. Recently I've been using it as my "main" language in developing a macOS user interface for my MSc research project, and it has literally made developing fun! Great to see it getting more support outside of the Apple domain.

I wrote some swift maybe 4 or 5 years ago when I was doing mobile app stuff and had access to a Mac. I remember finding the language pretty enjoyable, but considered its xplat potential questionable. At the time, I believe it did run on linux and people were touting it as a solid platform for building server side applications. I dont think that was ever realized though.

Swift on a server is a think: https://vapor.codes

Re: Swift on Windows

#44
post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

this is actually a community project, the guy behind all this (Saleem) isnt even at Apple, hes at Google.

Yeah, Google is also another one struggling with hard times. Now contrast this with Java or .NET where the large majority of the development comes from the corporations themselves.

I'm having trouble reading sarcasm. Are you joking? Or is there a complaint in there somewhere?

Re: Swift on Windows

#45
post #44
post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, Google is also another one struggling with hard times. Now contrast this with Java or .NET where the large majority of the development comes from the corporations themselves.

I'm having trouble reading sarcasm. Are you joking? Or is there a complaint in there somewhere?

Nah, just re-asserting how "important" this is to Apple and Google, better let others do the work for free, while aspiring to be future employees, or not.

Re: Swift on Windows

#46
post #2

I didn’t know about the effort to be able to create GUIs on Windows. It looks like there are basic wrappers for a lot of controls too: https://github.com/compnerd/swift-win32/tree/ed4993f7cbb284a... Slightly OT: I wish people wouldn’t put such large license headers in source code. I just don’t see the point, and it’s often longer than the actual source!

I hope wxSwift project will be resurrected.

Re: Swift on Windows

#47
post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't do any desktop development or use Windows much for that matter, but it looks like as of today, there are at least 4 ways [0] to build Windows desktop apps. No wonder the UX feels far less consistent and enjoyable than macOS. [0] - https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/apps/desktop/

Microsoft wanted to take developers in a direction they didn't want to go. They seemed to have realized their mistake and trying to unify this mess. In the recent past, you wouldn't find WPF and Windows Forms mentioned in the same article as UWP. Apple had their own problems with this (Carbon vs Cocoa) but that legacy has been shaken off.

That's interesting, did not know about the carbon to cocoa move, couldn't afford anything Apple back then :)

If both platforms had to handle such migrations, I guess it's only fair to say that Windows' solution would be much more difficult given how committed Microsoft is to maintaining backwards compatibility.

Re: Swift on Windows

#49
post #48

Why?

I have been using Swift for a month, so I am a beginner. It has some modern features, but it is lacking any real sense of community and feels very incomplete. Its threading and IPC models are clunky and its network code makes XMLHttp

Moving from Linux to Apple development has been a shock: All the gate keeping to keep me out of their hardware - after a month I still cannot reliably put my code on iOS - not for technical reasons but for license reasons.

Swift really suffers for coming from this environment. IMO leave it alone unless you have to develop for Apple hardware - and if you have to develop for Apple hardware - that is a business problem and you need to solve it.

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