Why most developers should avoid Apple's new Swift language
-
Swift is a good move for Apple; it makes developing for iOS more attractive. And because Swift, like Objective-C, is only relevant within the Apple ecosystem it encourages developers to commit exclusively to Apple and neglect other platforms. This is clearly a good outcome for Apple, but it's a bad outcome for developers wanting to engage as many people as possible.
Certainly not because the author's company has an alternative
-
Swift is a good move for Apple; it makes developing for iOS more attractive. And because Swift, like Objective-C, is only relevant within the Apple ecosystem it encourages developers to commit exclusively to Apple and neglect other platforms. This is clearly a good outcome for Apple, but it's a bad outcome for developers wanting to engage as many people as possible.
Certainly not because the author's company has an alternative
He does have a point though, my first thoughts on Swift were much the same, and I definitely don't have a competing product. I'm also slightly underwhelmed by the language - a classic Apple approach to innovation (take lots of ideas from elsewhere). At least this time they acknowledge such. I can't really see why they needed to develop a new language - there are so many already existing with this feature set.
"If you don't fail at least 90 percent of the time, you're not aiming high enough." Alan Kay.