Google hearts Apple's Swift so much it's pumping out server-side support
After a decade of false starts, Swift is showing backend appeal
Google has rolled out Swift support for server-side applications, recognizing the language's potential beyond its initial role as a client-side tool for Apple devices. The new Google Cloud Platform (GCP) Swift libraries are compatible with Swift 6.2 and later, incorporating SwiftNIO's asynchronous event loops, HTTP/2 multiplexing, gRPC transport, and data race safety compiler flags.
Swift's evolution from a UI-focused language to a viable systems and cloud language is attributed to Swift 6 and strict concurrency checking, which combines Rust-like data-race safety with predictable, reference-counted performance. The language's lightweight runtime, Automatic Reference Counting (ARC), and expressive syntax have also contributed to its appeal.
Google's Server Side Cloud Swift SDK is particularly suited for server, container, and DevOps environments, enabling developers to build microservices using Swift web frameworks like Hummingbird or Vapor. The GCP Swift libraries offer compile-time race safety, native async/await APIs, and zero OS thread congestion, further solidifying Swift's potential for backend development.
Despite Swift's growing popularity and recognition as a viable systems language, its server-side adoption has been slow. IBM and Amazon have not fully embraced Swift in recent years. However, the Swift community continues to push for its backend potential. With Swift's continued development and the emergence of AI coding agents, its approachability and readability could become even more valuable in the future.
Written by urgent.news from The Register Software's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
This story
This is one outlet's version. Read the fullest account.
