Smalltalk - Re: Xcode's Swift Playground

Smalltalk › Pharo › Pharo Smalltalk Users

Re: Xcode's Swift Playground

Posted by Sven Van Caekenberghe-2 on Jun 03, 2014; 9:00am
URL: https://forum.world.st/Xcode-s-Swift-Playground-tp4761425p4761461.html

On 03 Jun 2014, at 10:53, kilon alios <[hidden email]> wrote:

> For anyone who has not not watched it yet, you can watch the Playground demo here. Looks like they were inspired by Bred Victor demos.
>
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l62x8Oq_QP4
>
> Swift is statically typed with type inference. BUT it has generics and optional types. So it looks like it tries to let you have the cake and eat it too.

It is way to early to have an opinion (especially since one should use a language before commenting), but ...

1 - it is very nice to see Apple play in the language design world (it will get traction I am sure)
2 - it feels like a pretty complex language, both in terms of syntax options, concepts and rules, especially around types (the language book is 500 pages I believe)

What makes Pharo and Smalltalk so cool is this magical simplicity on so many levels.

> It also removes the need for header files , so it really moves away from the C paradigm.
>
> There is a quick toor here
>
> https://developer.apple.com/library/prerelease/ios/documentation/Swift/Conceptual/Swift_Programming_Language/GuidedTour.html#//apple_ref/doc/uid/TP40014097-CH2
>
>
> On Tue, Jun 3, 2014 at 11:29 AM, stepharo <[hidden email]> wrote:
>
> Hi,
>
> The work on GToolkit goes in this direction. Funny enough, we also have a Playground :).
>
> Look here for an example:
> http://www.humane-assessment.com/blog/dynamic-exploration-of-a-postgres-db-with-the-gtinspector/
>
> More will come in this direction. I happen to believe that this is the area with the largest potential in Pharo, and it would be great to put more effort around it. If people have an interest to participate, please just let me know.
>
> + 1
>
> Now my plate is full but I encourage people to join effort.
>
> Stef
>
>