Apple's Swift project founds "Android Working Group"
Anyone who wants to use Swift to program Android apps is confronted with crutches. This should no longer be the case in future.
Apple Swift logo: Multi-platform capability is being expanded.
(Image: Apple)
Apple's Swift programming language can already be used on Windows and Linux in addition to macOS – The company is also trying to establish the system for server environments. However, what has gone more badly than well so far is the development of Android projects with Swift. Although this is certainly possible, it requires a certain amount of patching, which prevents many developers from deviating from Kotlin and other languages used under Android. The Apple-funded Swift project now wants to change this – at least a little: A good eleven years after it was founded, there will be an Android Working Group (AWG) for Swift, which will serve as a coordinating body.
Still a hopeless patchwork, so far
As the Swift project announced, it has several goals. The official support of Android as a Swift target platform is to be improved and maintained. Downstream or out-of-tree patches would then no longer be necessary. Core Swift packages such as Dispatch and Foundation are to be better adapted to Android environments. The AWG will also work with the central Platform Steering Group to improve overall platform support for Android. “Official support” at a good level would be a possible outcome.
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Until then, however, there is still some work to be done. For example, there are still no CI with Android tests in pull request checks. It also needs to be determined which Android API levels and architectures should be available in Swift.
Adjustments also for community packages
Libraries must be adapted, and bridging between Swift and the Android Java SDK must be improved. In addition, it is not yet even officially possible to debug Swift apps under Android. The AWG is also planning to adapt various community packages for Swift for Android.
Interestingly, there was already speculation a few years ago that Google might also be interested in Swift, but then the decision was made in favor of Kotlin. Currently, tools such as Scade are used to bring native Swift apps to Android. Official support should greatly improve all of this, although it is unclear how quickly the AWG can get to work. The team is still looking for support from the scene.
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