Objective-C is a difficult language to work with and has decades of cruft. Swift is a start-over, but with Objective-C interop so you still have full access to the full existing APIs for OSX and iOS. Thus, the same boiler plate.
“You indicate type methods for classes by writing the keyword class before the method’s func keyword, and type methods for structures and enumerations by writing the keyword static before the method’s func keyword.”
Excerpt From: Apple Inc. “The Swift Programming Language.” iBooks. https://itun.es/us/jEUH0.l
I do think the new language is neat and will be fun to work in, but it doesn't solve the parts that tripped up many people when working in Objc.
[1]
@lazy var asHTML: () -> String = {
[unowned self] in
if let text = self.text {
return "<\(self.name)>\(text)</\(self.name)>"
} else {
return "<\(self.name) />"
}
}
It seems important for traction to make the beginning learning curve non-steep. See PHP, Python, etc.
For me, Lua+LuaJIT+C/C++ as a cross-platform solution to everything is a start-over, and it gives me all kinds of things I don't get from Swift, one of them is the ability to make decisions for myself about how the basic structures of the application are going to be managed and under what conditions, either in the VM as needed or out of it, and with whatever current frameworks you want to interface with (e.g. everything). Plus, LuaJIT for the win. Plus put it, simply everywhere. (On:iOS,Linux,OSX,Win,Web,&etc.)
Swift is interesting, but I will not again be swayed to the darkside of using platform-provider-provided-platforms to achieve platform nirvana, for that harness contains nails upon which to be pinned.
Planks can be assembled of many kinds, but mine is shiny enough without another dastardly developer-mindset-grab by a very, very serious cult.
(<<--MacbookPro'er)