Apple recently released a language called Swift. As a language it appears to be the best of both worlds -- a script language that emits native codes. But I've got a feeling it means more than just a language. The talk roughly consists of 4 parts as follows: * Introducing Swift * Script Languages vs "Compiler" Languages * Free Software vs. Open Source * The Sunset of Our Culture

1. Introducing Swift
- and the Sunset of Our
Culture
@dankogai
1

2. Introducing Swift
- and the Sunset of Our
Culture?
2

3. Introducing Swift
3

5. https://developer.apple.com/swift/
5

6. Hello, world!
use v5.16;
say "Hello, world!";
6

7. Hello, world!
println("Hello,
world!")
//
no
main()
required
7

8. FizzBuzz
#!/usr/bin/env perl -l
print+(Fizz)[$_%3].(Buzz)[$_%5]||$_ for 1..100
!
# http://developer.cybozu.co.jp/takesako/2007/05/
fizzbuzz.html
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9. FizzBuzz
println(1)
println(2)
println("Fizz")
println(4)
println("Buzz")
println("Fizz")
println(7)
println(8)
println("Fizz")
println("Buzz")
println(11)
println("Fizz")
println(13)
println(14)
println("FizzBuzz")
println(16)
println(17)
println("Fizz")
println(19)
println("Buzz")
println("Fizz")
println(22)
println(23)
println("Fizz")
println("Buzz")
println(26)
println("Fizz")
println(28)
println(29)
println("FizzBuzz")
println(31)
println(32)
println("Fizz")
println(34)
println("Buzz")
println("Fizz")
println(37)
println(38)
println("Fizz")
println("Buzz")
println(41)
println("Fizz")
println(43)
println(44)
println("FizzBuzz")
println(46)
println(47)
println("Fizz")
println(49)
println("Buzz")
println("Fizz")
println(52)
println(53)
println("Fizz")
println("Buzz")
println(56)
println("Fizz")
println(58)
println(59)
println("FizzBuzz")
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10. FizzBuzz - Lowest IQ
println(1)
println(2)
println("Fizz")
println(4)
println("Buzz")
println("Fizz")
println(7)
println(8)
println("Fizz")
println("Buzz")
println(11)
println("Fizz")
println(13)
println(14)
println("FizzBuzz")
// cf. https://twitter.com/dankogai/status/494976616796127232
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11. FizzBuzz
for n in 1...100 {
let f = n % 3 == 0 ? "Fizz" : ""
let b = n % 5 == 0 ? "Buzz" : ""
let fb = f + b;
println(fb.isEmpty ? "(n)" : fb)
}
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12. FizzBuzz - func
func fizzbuzz(n:Int) -> String {
let f = n % 3 == 0 ? "Fizz" : ""
let b = n % 5 == 0 ? "Buzz" : ""
let fb = f + b;
return fb.isEmpty ? String(n) : fb
}
for n in 1...100 {
println(fizzbuzz(n))
}
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13. FizzBuzz - method
extension Int {
func fizzbuzz() -> String {
let f = self % 3 == 0 ? "Fizz" : ""
let b = self % 5 == 0 ? "Buzz" : ""
let fb = f + b;
return fb.isEmpty ? String(self) : fb
}
}
for n in 1...100 {
println(n.fizzbuzz())
}
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14. FizzBuzz - getter
extension Int {
var fizzbuzz:String {
let f = self % 3 == 0 ? "Fizz" : ""
let b = self % 5 == 0 ? "Buzz" : ""
let fb = f + b;
return fb.isEmpty ? String(self) : fb
}
}
for n in 1...100 {
println(n.fizzbuzz)
}
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15. FizzBuzz - subscript
class FizzBuzz {
subscript (n:Int)->String {
let f = n % 3 == 0 ? "Fizz" : ""
let b = n % 5 == 0 ? "Buzz" : ""
let fb = f + b;
return fb.isEmpty ? String(n) : fb
}
}
let fizzbuzz = FizzBuzz()
for n in 1...100 {
println(fizzbuzz[n])
}
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16. FizzBuzz - generator
extension FizzBuzz : SequenceType {
func generate() -> GeneratorOf<String> {
var n = 0
return GeneratorOf<String> {
if n == 100 { return nil }
return self[++n]
}
}
}
let fizzbuzz = FizzBuzz()
for s in fizzbuzz {
println(s)
}
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17. FizzBuzz - optional
let fizzbuzz = [
3:"Fizz",5:"Buzz",6:"Fizz",9:"Fizz",
10:"Buzz",12:"Fizz",0:"FizzBuzz"
]
for n in 1...100 {
println(fizzbuzz[n % 15] ?? "(n)")
}
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18. FizzBuzz - functionally
let fizzbuzz = [
3:"Fizz",5:"Buzz",6:"Fizz",9:"Fizz",
10:"Buzz",12:"Fizz",0:"FizzBuzz"
]
Array(1...100)
.map { fizzbuzz[$0 % 15] ?? "($0)" }
.map { println($0) }
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19. FizzBuzz - operator
infix operator => { associativity left precedence 95 }
func => <A,R> (lhs:A, rhs:A->R)->R {
return rhs(lhs)
}
let fizzbuzz = [
3:"Fizz",5:"Buzz",6:"Fizz",9:"Fizz",
10:"Buzz",12:"Fizz",0:"FizzBuzz"
]
Array(1...100).map {
fizzbuzz[n % 15] ?? "(n)" => println
}
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20. Demo

21. let Swift =
Of course, it also greatly benefited from the experiences hard-won by many other languages
in the field, drawing ideas from Objective-C, Rust, Haskell, Ruby, Python, C#, CLU, and far
too many others to list. - Chris Lattner

22. let Swift =
IMHO, it looks more like Perl6 than any other!

23. let Swift =
what.perl6.was.supposed
.to.be!

24. Script Languages vs
"Compiler" Languages
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25. http://www.perl6.org/archive/talks/2000/als/talk.html
25

26. Write Run Type Languages
Compiled Harder Faster Static
C, C++,
Java
Scripted Easier Slower Dynamic
Perl, Ruby,
Python,JS
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27. Write Run Type Languages
Compiled Harder Faster Static
C, C++,
Java
Ideal? Easier Faster
Static + !
Type
Inference
Swift?
Scripted Easier Slower Dynamic
Perl, Ruby,
Python,JS
27

28. The Sunset of Our
Culture?
28

29. http://danielvdende.com/gdc2014/
29

30. http://danielvdende.com/gdc2014/
30

31. Bottom-up languages
are "discovered"
• Perl for those C is too hard
• Perl for those awk is too limited
• PHP for those who considers perl too hard
• Python for those who considers perl too easy
• Ruby for those who cosiders -> too much
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32. Top-down languages
are "delivered"
• Java by Sun -> Oracle
• JS by Netscape -> MS -> Google and Apple
• Dart and Go by Google
• Swift by Apple
32

33. How Apple Delivers
Their Products
• Release a few good products
• Microsoft: C#, F#, Silverlight, TypeScript…
• Google: Dart and go
• Facebook: Hack? What the Heck?
• Apple: Swift
• Among a few good products, languages are the fewest
• Only two since 1984 - HyperTalk, AppleScript (I
know Dylan but only its name)
33

34. How Apple Delivers
Their Products
• "Innovation is not about creating something
extraordinary today: it is about making
something ordinary tomorrow" — @chibicode
• "We’d be lucky if we sold 10 million iPhones" —
steve Jobs
• More iPhones are sold in a month these days
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35. How Apple Delivers
Their Products
• "Swift is an innovative new programming
language for Cocoa and Cocoa Touch."
• Then why "lldb -repl" invokes Swift?
• I coundn’t find anything special to Cocoa and
Cocoa Touch in Swift.
35

36. Swift is a general
purpose language
36

37. Swift is a general
purpose language
• Emits native code.
• UnsafePointer<()>
• @asmname
• Inherits libc and Foundation
• rejects legacy syntax of (Objective-)?C
• Will it achieve C++ and Java did not — replace
C? Time will tell…
37

38. Will Swift go OSS?
• No promise. Just guesses.
• clang is OSS
• lldb -repl
• Swift itself is not platform-specific
• Once OSS, you can never close it
• Android 3.X has set a very bad example
38

39. Top-down
>
Bottom-up?
• Perl6 = Still Crazy After All These Years
• Perl5: two years just to add subroutine signature
• Swift: two weeks to change T[] to [T]
39

40. A language for getting
the jobs done
• But who gives you the job?
• And if your job giver offer you a lanugage, who
can resist?
40

41. There’s more than one
language to do it
• OS X bundles more languages than any other OS
• Perl is there to stay
• /usr/bin/perl -v # 5.18.2 as of Yosemite DP6
• Available even without Xcode!
• Among others
• ruby 2.0.0, python 2.7.6, php 5.5.14…
• But mind the mindshare and mindshift
41

42. that’s it (for now)
for q in questions {
q.answer()
}
42