Swift (programming language)

Swift is a <a href="/facts/High-level_programming_language/smjECUhx">high-level</a> <a href="/facts/General-purpose_programming_language/LyA5zR3M">general-purpose</a>, <a href="/facts/Multi-paradigm_programming_language/7LwgRpB3">multi-paradigm</a>, <a href="/facts/Compiled_language/WRqIRjFx">compiled</a> <a href="/facts/Programming_language/cWTYbgWa">programming language</a> created by <a href="/facts/Chris_Lattner/tFpzvnlQ">Chris Lattner</a> in 2010 for <a href="/facts/Apple_Inc./oTJYta3k">Apple Inc.</a> and maintained by <a href="/facts/Open-source_software_movement/YXplsqjw">the open-source community</a>. Swift compiles to machine code and uses an <a href="/facts/LLVM/nPmcspQN">LLVM</a>-based compiler. Swift was first released in June 2014 and the Swift toolchain has shipped in <a href="/facts/Xcode/glURdIVT">Xcode</a> since Xcode version 6, released in September 2014.
Apple intended Swift to support many core concepts associated with <a href="/facts/Objective-C/5mM557BW">Objective-C</a>, notably <a href="/facts/Dynamic_dispatch/211NC5eu">dynamic dispatch</a>, widespread <a href="/facts/Late_binding/qQzKrY6j">late binding</a>, <a href="/facts/Extensible_programming/hDFSJ5Xp">extensible programming</a>, and similar features, but in a "safer" way, making it easier to catch <a href="/facts/Software_bug/I1uSXySv">software bugs</a>; Swift has features addressing some common programming errors like <a href="/facts/Null_pointer/66zwVEfL">null pointer</a> <a href="/facts/Dereference_operator/HnG6rwyG">dereferencing</a> and provides <a href="/facts/Syntactic_sugar/FYkNSdTI">syntactic sugar</a> to help avoid the <a href="/facts/Pyramid_of_doom_(programming)/KoCtDttE">pyramid of doom</a>. Swift supports the concept of <a href="/facts/Interface_(object-oriented_programming)/jDMpXoLN">protocol</a> extensibility, an extensibility system that can be applied to types, <a href="/facts/Record_(computer_science)/1fvSgenB">structs</a> and <a href="/facts/Class_(computer_programming)/zvzkSAtE">classes</a>, which Apple promotes as a real change in programming paradigms they term "protocol-oriented programming" (similar to <a href="/facts/Trait_(computer_programming)/olRmTbFe">traits</a> and <a href="/facts/Type_class/MBbIhF4n">type classes</a>).
Swift was introduced at Apple's <a href="/facts/Apple_Worldwide_Developers_Conference/hEjVWkoo">2014 Worldwide Developers Conference</a> (WWDC). It underwent an upgrade to version 1.2 during 2014 and a major upgrade to Swift 2 at WWDC 2015. It was initially a <a href="/facts/Proprietary_programming_language/cWTYbgWa">proprietary language</a>, but version 2.2 was made <a href="/facts/Open-source_software/HzTaB8E9">open-source software</a> under the <a href="/facts/Apache_License/5AeIjas8">Apache License</a> 2.0 on December 3, 2015, for Apple's platforms and <a href="/facts/Linux/9FvCKSTq">Linux</a>.

Swift (programming language) open-in-new

Swift (programming language)