Apple Swift Site Launches Dev Blog As Xcode 6 Beta Loosed For All

Apple has launched a new Swift blog to guide iOS and OS X developers through the new programming language, while at the same time throwing open the Xcode 6 beta to anybody who has registered. Swift, announced to no small degree of surprise at WWDC 2014 last month, replaces Objective C as Apple's preferred programming language, and developers still have plenty of questions.

Some of those have been addressed today, such as around compatibility with future iterations of OS X and iOS. Apple says that any software submitted using Swift will not only work seamlessly with iOS 8 and OS X Yosemite when they land in the fall, but will also work on iOS 7 and OS X Mavericks systems too.

Early adopters of Swift and new Xcode versions do need to bear in mind a few temporary provisos, however, particularly around frameworks. If the Swift compiler and Xcode versions aren't the same, that could introduce some incompatibilities.

That won't be a problem "in a year or two," Apple promises, when the Swift runtime becomes part of the host OS, and the binary interface stabilizes.

In addition to the promise of regular Swift news, Apple has added new guides, videos, sample codes, and other developer-related content to the fleshed-out site section. Xcode 6 beta is now available to anybody who has registered a free Apple developer account.

Meanwhile, if you need help in getting up to speed, we've got you covered with three straightforward ways to start programming using iTunes U resources.

SOURCE Swift Blog