Two's Complement Swift (with Doug Gregor)
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Oct 12, 2022 Doug Gregor, one of the original designers of the Swift programming language, shares his insights on its evolution and design philosophies. He discusses how Swift might serve as a successor to C++, emphasizing improvements in safety and usability. The conversation dives into Swift's unique features like witness tables for generics, value semantics for thread safety, and user-friendly optional types. Gregor also highlights the language's performance advantages and the importance of community involvement in its ongoing development.
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Doug Gregor's C++ Background
- Doug Gregor's background is in C++, having spent 10 years on the C++ committee.
- He worked on features like std::function and variadic templates, and implemented C++ support in Clang.
Genesis of Swift
- Swift's creation was driven by the need for a safer and more modern language at Apple, primarily for app development.
- It aimed to address Objective-C's limitations in memory safety and to be more accessible than existing options.
Swift as Objective-C's Successor
- Swift succeeded Objective-C by filling its role in Apple's platforms, not through direct code compatibility.
- Interoperability exists, allowing incremental adoption of Swift in Objective-C projects.