The Language: Apple Introduces Swift

On Tuesday, Apple told the developers of the world that the language they had used for thirty years was being retired, and the retirement was the most exciting news of the year. The company introduced Swift, a new programming language for its platforms, at its annual developer conference, and the language was designed to replace Objective-C as the way to build apps for the iPhone and the Mac. The introduction is the June 2014 story, and the story is the lesson: the platforms that last are the platforms that reinvent the tools they are built on.

The Language is the subject of this article: what Swift is, why Apple built it, what it means for the developers, and what it says about the courage required to change the foundations while the building is still being used. The announcement came at the opening keynote of the Worldwide Developers Conference on Monday, June 2. This is the story of the language, and the story is about the moment the most valuable app economy in the world got a new tongue.

1. The Announcement

The announcement came at the Worldwide Developers Conference, the annual gathering where Apple talks to the people who build the apps, and the announcement was the surprise of the keynote. Apple introduced Swift, a new programming language for iOS and OS X, and the introduction was the first new language from the company in decades. The crowd of thousands of developers, the people who would have to learn the new tongue, greeted the announcement with cheers.

The announcement was made by the engineers who had built the language, and the engineers were the proof of the investment. Swift had been in development for years, led by Chris Lattner, the engineer who had built the compiler that Apple used for its existing code. The language was the work of a team that understood the old ways and had decided the old ways were not enough. The announcement was the beginning, and the beginning was the new language.

2. The Language

The language itself was designed to be modern, and the modernity was the point. Swift had the features that programmers had come to expect from the best languages of the decade: type inference, closures, generics, and optionals, the system that made it impossible to accidentally use a value that did not exist. The language was designed to be safe, to catch errors at compile time instead of letting them crash the app at run time, and the safety was the promise.

The language was also designed to be fast, and the speed was the engineering. Swift was compiled, built on the LLVM compiler infrastructure that Apple had helped create, and the compiled code could run as fast as the code it replaced. The language was designed to be easy to read and write, with a syntax that looked more like plain English than the cryptic symbols of the old language. The language was the tool, and the tool was the future.

3. The Playgrounds

The playgrounds were the feature that made the developers gasp, and the gasp was the demonstration. Xcode, Apple's development environment, included a new tool called Playgrounds, a space where the developer could write a line of code and watch the result appear instantly, live, as the code was written. The developer could see the values change, the graphs draw, and the views render, without building the app and running it. The playground was the way to learn the language, and the learning was the fun.

The playgrounds were also the way to teach the language, and the teaching was the adoption. The developers who saw the live preview understood the language in minutes, and the understanding was the beginning of the migration. The playground was the bridge between the old and the new, and the bridge was the gift to the community. The playgrounds were the demonstration, and the demonstration was the persuasion.

4. The Book

The book was the other gift, and the gift was the access. Apple published "The Swift Programming Language," a complete guide to the new language, and the book was available for free on the App Store and the iBooks Store on the day of the announcement. The company that was known for its secrecy gave away the full documentation of its new language, and the giving was the strategy: the faster the developers learned, the faster the apps would come.

The book was also the sign of the times. The language was new, the documentation was complete, and the learning could begin immediately, no registration, no fee, no secrets. The developers could read the book on the plane home from the conference and start writing Swift the next day. The book was the door, and the door was open. The book was the beginning of the education, and the education was the ecosystem.

5. The Objective

The objective was the replacement of the old language, and the replacement was the audacity. Objective-C had been the language of Apple's platforms for nearly thirty years, since the founding of the company that became NeXT and the NeXT that became the foundation of modern Apple. The language was the accumulated wisdom of decades, and the wisdom was also the baggage: the syntax was strange, the memory management was tricky, and the language had not kept pace with the modern era.

Apple did not kill Objective-C, and Apple made it clear the old code would still work, and the coexistence was the pragmatism. Swift could call the old code, and the old code could call Swift, and the developers could migrate at their own pace. The objective was the eventual replacement, and the replacement was the message: the platforms of the future would be built on the language of the future. The objective was the plan, and the plan was the future.

6. The Developers

The developers were the audience, and the audience was the point of the whole exercise. Apple's platforms were the most valuable app economy in the world, and the value depended on the developers who built the apps, and the developers depended on the tools that Apple gave them. The new language was the gift to the developers, the recognition that their time was valuable and their craft deserved better tools. The developers were the customers, and the customers were the strategy.

The developers also had to learn, and the learning was the cost of the change. The new language was easier than the old, and the ease was the compensation for the effort of learning. The developers who embraced the change would build the next generation of apps, and the developers who resisted would watch the future pass them by. The developers were the community, and the community was the ecosystem. The developers were the heart of the story, and the heart was the new language.

7. The Lesson

The lesson of Swift was about the courage to change the foundations, and the courage was the rarest quality in technology. Apple had the most successful platform in the world, and the platform was built on a language that was showing its age, and the company decided to build a new language while the old one was still working. The decision was risky: the developers could have rejected the change, the migration could have stalled, and the new language could have been a distraction.

The lesson was that the risk was worth taking, because the platforms that last are the platforms that reinvent the tools they are built on. The company that waited for the language to become a crisis would have faced the crisis with no plan, and the company that acted early had the plan ready. The lesson was the timing, and the timing was the courage. The language was the bet on the future, and the bet was the confidence.

8. The Future

The future of Swift would be written by the developers, and the developers were already typing. The language would spread from the conference to the world, from the tutorials to the apps, and the spread would take years. The old code would be migrated, the new code would be written, and the language would evolve with the feedback of the community. The future was the adoption, and the adoption was the test.

The future was also the lesson in the making. The company that introduced the language was the company that had bet on the future before, with the iPhone, with the App Store, and the bets had paid off. The language was the latest bet, and the bet was the pattern. The language is the June 2014 story, and the story is the lesson: the platforms that last are the platforms that reinvent the tools they are built on. The tools were reinvented on Monday, and the reinvention was the future. The language will be judged by the apps it makes possible, and the apps are already being imagined. The developers who left the conference with the book and the playgrounds were the first of the migration, and the migration is the adoption. The new tongue is being learned, and the learning is the ecosystem.

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