18 ms·

IBM to Bring Swift to the Cloud

52 points by Rican7 11y ago

k33n 11y ago
Can't say I understand the value in this at all.
- dijit 11y ago
  Heroku for swift? Sounds like an old business model with a new language. Still, making the lumbering giant tread into the 21st century is not going to be without pain, I'm glad to see they are at least trying.
  - pjmlp 11y ago
    As a Java early adopter, I saw many jump to it thanks to IBM's adoption. Assuming this might have a similar effect, Oracle should better speed up those value types and AOT compilation improvements.
- BenoitP 11y ago
  Exact same thing as Node allowing people specialized in javascript to easily transition to the server. There is nothing for me in it, there is nothing for you in it, but there is something in it for the swift developers (and thus, for IBM).
  - kennywinker 11y ago
    Just like not everyone using node started as a frontend js dev who transitioned to server side, if Swift continues to mature on the server there will be people who use it who didn't start as iOS/Mac devs.
  - lhnz 11y ago
    I transitioned from Python to Node and from Node onto the whole stack. I think a lot of people did this. There are presumably still a lot of people that see benefit in being able to write one programming language across their whole stack.
- zepto 11y ago
  Presumably you don't program in swift.
KSS42 11y ago
One Language to rule them all ...
- melling 11y ago
  That'll probably never happen but Swift is rapidly gaining popularity. Over 3 dozen books were released within 18 months of Swift's announcement: http://www.h4labs.com/dev/ios/books http://www.h4labs.com/dev/ios/books And dozens of bloggers publish Swift articles every week: http://www.h4labs.com/dev/ios/swift.html?week=20160220 http://www.h4labs.com/dev/ios/swift.html?week=20160220
steego 11y ago
You have to love how IBM uses the old fashioned press releases to try and lure young developers to use their hip new technology on their platform.
- splatcollision 11y ago
  They can't ever stop doing press releases of course, but the Bluemix marketing site has a bit nicer presentation of the interesting bits: http://www.ibm.com/cloud-computing/bluemix/swift/ http://www.ibm.com/cloud-computing/bluemix/swift/
  - steego 11y ago
    I don't disagree. Companies always need to issue press releases in conjunction with an announcement, but too many older companies (mine included) too often lean on them like a crutch. If IBM wants to stay relevant, they need to start controlling how things like this are announced and branded. IBM actually has a cool set of offerings here, but it's obscured behind a collage of unfamiliar names like Bluemix, OpenWhisk, Kitura that belongs to a group called IBM MobileFirst Offering Management. With a barrage of names like that, it reeks of a group that's going to be reshuffled and rebranded into something else 1-3 years from now. People want one name and one comprehensive page. If you want to attract Swift developers to use Bluemix, then direct them to something like this: https://github.com/ibm-swift/kitura https://github.com/ibm-swift/kitura Developers these days want one name that they can google, download the bits, and get started in under 5 minutes to see if it's something that's worth their while.

52 points by Rican7 11y ago

k33n 11y ago

Can't say I understand the value in this at all.

dijit 11y ago
Heroku for swift? Sounds like an old business model with a new language. Still, making the lumbering giant tread into the 21st century is not going to be without pain, I'm glad to see they are at least trying.
- pjmlp 11y ago
  As a Java early adopter, I saw many jump to it thanks to IBM's adoption. Assuming this might have a similar effect, Oracle should better speed up those value types and AOT compilation improvements.
BenoitP 11y ago
Exact same thing as Node allowing people specialized in javascript to easily transition to the server. There is nothing for me in it, there is nothing for you in it, but there is something in it for the swift developers (and thus, for IBM).
- kennywinker 11y ago
  Just like not everyone using node started as a frontend js dev who transitioned to server side, if Swift continues to mature on the server there will be people who use it who didn't start as iOS/Mac devs.
- lhnz 11y ago
  I transitioned from Python to Node and from Node onto the whole stack. I think a lot of people did this. There are presumably still a lot of people that see benefit in being able to write one programming language across their whole stack.
zepto 11y ago
Presumably you don't program in swift.

KSS42 11y ago

One Language to rule them all ...

melling 11y ago
That'll probably never happen but Swift is rapidly gaining popularity. Over 3 dozen books were released within 18 months of Swift's announcement: http://www.h4labs.com/dev/ios/books http://www.h4labs.com/dev/ios/books And dozens of bloggers publish Swift articles every week: http://www.h4labs.com/dev/ios/swift.html?week=20160220 http://www.h4labs.com/dev/ios/swift.html?week=20160220

steego 11y ago

You have to love how IBM uses the old fashioned press releases to try and lure young developers to use their hip new technology on their platform.

splatcollision 11y ago
They can't ever stop doing press releases of course, but the Bluemix marketing site has a bit nicer presentation of the interesting bits: http://www.ibm.com/cloud-computing/bluemix/swift/ http://www.ibm.com/cloud-computing/bluemix/swift/
- steego 11y ago
  I don't disagree. Companies always need to issue press releases in conjunction with an announcement, but too many older companies (mine included) too often lean on them like a crutch. If IBM wants to stay relevant, they need to start controlling how things like this are announced and branded. IBM actually has a cool set of offerings here, but it's obscured behind a collage of unfamiliar names like Bluemix, OpenWhisk, Kitura that belongs to a group called IBM MobileFirst Offering Management. With a barrage of names like that, it reeks of a group that's going to be reshuffled and rebranded into something else 1-3 years from now. People want one name and one comprehensive page. If you want to attract Swift developers to use Bluemix, then direct them to something like this: https://github.com/ibm-swift/kitura https://github.com/ibm-swift/kitura Developers these days want one name that they can google, download the bits, and get started in under 5 minutes to see if it's something that's worth their while.