Apple project lead Ted Kremenek discusses Swift 5 & how it is used internally

Apple's head of Swift development Ted Kremenek has provided insight into the development of Swift 5.0, the upcoming major milestone release for the programming language, with a podcast interview revealing not only what coders should expect, but also how Apple works out what new features to add to future versions.

Named the project lead of Swift development within Apple two years ago, Kremenek is the current manager of the Languages and Runtimes team, which handles Swift's refinement among other tasks. While Swift is being developed relatively openly, complete with its own dedicated website, Kremenek took time to discuss its development further in a podcast published on Tuesday.

Speaking on John Sundell's Swift by Sundell podcast, Kremenek discusses on ABI stability, referring to the application binary interface that works between program modules, with a stable ABI allowing for apps that are build with one compiler will be able to communicate effectively with those produced on another, for example. Kremenek explains the changes that had to be made to Swift to make it be ABI stable, and how the programming language stands to benefit from its implementation.

The podcast also covers how String has been improved in Swift 5.0, as well as how Apple uses Swift internally.

Swift is a core component of Apple's app ecosystem, and the company has been keen to teach others how to use the programming language as part of its Everyone Can Code sessions and larger software development curriculum in schools. Apple also teaches younger users how to code in Swift via the Swift Playgrounds app for iPad.

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42 Comments

darkpaw

said about 5 years ago

In this next version of Swift, will I suddenly get 4,000 errors due to fundamental syntax being changed? And if so, will that change be documented or will I have to hunt on Stack Overflow for the correct replacement code?

indieshack

said about 5 years ago

darkpaw said:

In this next version of Swift, will I suddenly get 4,000 errors due to fundamental syntax being changed? And if so, will that change be documented or will I have to hunt on Stack Overflow for the correct replacement code?

The changes have become less onerous with new versions, but of course they're still there. I guess one of the reasons Facebook and other entities are still Objective C shops. Your point about documentation is well taken, and yes, StackOverflow will still be your friend.