Swift Tooling: Windows Edition

Original Article ↗ Hacker News Discussion ↗

Swift’s growing tooling support on Windows, driven in part by efforts like The Browser Company’s Arc browser and community ports, is renewing interest in the language beyond Apple’s ecosystem. Commenters weigh whether Swift can realistically compete with entrenched options like C# and Kotlin on Windows, especially given Microsoft’s shifting UI frameworks (WinRT, WinUI 3, MAUI) and the need for bindings to native APIs. Many see Swift as a technically strong but still niche choice whose broader adoption depends less on the language itself and more on long-term investment from Apple, Microsoft, and Google in cross‑platform tooling and UI libraries.

Swift on Windows: Tooling and Port Status

  • Strong appreciation for the work to bring Swift compiler and tooling to Windows, especially driven by a browser vendor using Swift for a production Windows app.
  • Some originally assumed this effort was unrealistic “vaporware”; successful shipping changed that perception.
  • Non‑UI frameworks: comments suggest cross‑platform Foundation is available; networking via Swift‑NIO and reactive pieces via OpenCombine. One reply simply states the core/foundation porting is “done,” but details remain sparse.
  • Windows Swift development still feels less polished than on macOS; IDE and editor support (e.g., VS Code) are called out as lagging.

UI: SwiftUI vs Native Windows Stacks

  • Clarification that reported “SwiftUI on Windows” is really Swift interop with Windows native APIs (WinRT/Win32), not Apple’s SwiftUI framework.
  • A thin Swift wrapper over Win32 exists; it’s largely a single‑author effort and seen as early‑stage.
  • Discussion that fully reimplementing SwiftUI cross‑platform is an enormous task; prior open‑source attempts stalled.

Microsoft’s UI Strategy (WinRT, WinUI 3, MAUI)

  • Several comments criticize Microsoft’s churn in UI stacks: WinRT → WinUI 3 → MAUI, with some considering WinRT and even WinUI 3 effectively abandoned or “mothballed.”
  • Others counter with links indicating WinUI 3 and WPF are still strategic.
  • General sentiment: Windows UI ecosystem feels unstable and confusing for app developers.

Should Google/Microsoft Embrace Swift?

  • One side: supporting Swift “properly” on Android/Windows could attract iOS‑first teams, reduce porting cost, and yield more apps and revenue.
  • Counterpoints:
    • Swift developers are relatively few, and most are “iOS developers who use Swift,” not language‑agnostic Swift fans.
    • Platform owners already have successful languages (C#, Kotlin, Dart, Go) and would risk fragmenting their ecosystems.
    • It’s seen as Apple’s responsibility to make Swift genuinely cross‑platform, not competing platforms’ job to carry Apple’s tech.

Swift’s Position vs Other Languages

  • Some view Swift as overlapping heavily with C#, making it hard to justify outside Apple platforms where C# already has mature tooling and broad reach.
  • Others argue Swift has a cleaner modern design (value semantics, ARC, strong generics) and can be preferable to Kotlin/C# in ergonomics.
  • Consensus: Swift is highly relevant for Apple platforms and server‑side Apple shops, but still feels a few years away from broad, general‑purpose adoption off Apple’s ecosystem.

Windows as a Target

  • One commenter dismisses Windows entirely; others respond that Windows still holds the majority desktop share and is economically important, with reasonable dev experience.