Chapter 1. What Were They Thinking?

Apple's release of Swift was a smashing hit from the very beginning. The language generated a lot of hype and it delivered. Of course, with the introduction of any new programming language, problems and issues will come along for the ride. Apple has carefully cultivated the young language, and has been steadily improving its base and introducing new features, support, and compatibility with its long mainstay incumbent, Objective-C. So, why would Apple open-source the language? What is Apple's objective and what does that tell us about the forthcoming release of Swift 3?

The focus of this chapter is to discuss Apple's goals for Swift 3, to show you where you can find the source of official information about new and current development in the language, and to explain how the community of developers will shape the fate of Swift as a language.