IBM wants to secure a strong position in the cloud enterprise app development world, and Apple facilitates its efforts via Swift.
Aiming to simplify the end-to-end development of apps, IBM has a new strategy. To do this, the cloud computing provider enables developers to work on their apps directly in Apple's programming language, Swift. To make things even easier for coders who provide enterprise solutions, IBM has taken Swift to the cloud.
In order to assist developers in building apps, IBM offers a preview of Swift runtime alongside a Swift Package Catalog.
Developers now have three possibilities to interact with Swift on IBM's Cloud.
Here, coders can toy around with an open-source variant of Swift. It allows them to polish their skills and to accustom themselves with Swift's opportunities and Swift for enterprise use. The Swift Sandbox reveals the enhancements that the programming language received.
While coders can get to work on end-to-end applications on Bluemix, they will deploy them using Kitura. Kitura is a novel open-source Web server that IBM rolled out, and it plays nicely with Linux and OS X.
Generous developers are able to share code across projects. Coders can submit their work to the Swift Package Catalog on Bluemix, thus contributing to the global Swift open-source knowledge and expertise.
IBM claims that due to its cloud service, it's already ahead in terms of Swift understanding.
"Swift is easy-to-learn, reliable, fast and interactive, the key traits that CIOs look for when building the next generation of enterprise mobile apps," says Michael Gilfix, IBM's vice president of MobileFirst Offering Management.
Gilfix explains that for enterprise level apps to be efficient, they need to be founded on a modern programming language. He notes that enterprises have a lot to earn from using Swift on Cloud, due to a simplification in the development of end-to-end apps. This, Gilfix says, will lead to unprecedented levels of productivity.
IBM points out that using Swift on Cloud demolishes the barrier between front-end and back-end development. This means that enterprise solutions could resort to using only one programming language in order to craft back-end business logic and rich front-end experiences.
One advantage is that this program merges development resources, and at the same time it speeds up development and deployment of new solutions. The streamlining should upgrade enterprise agility by a long shot.
What is more, having Swift on the server enables developers to get a more direct and safe toolchain when they create end-to-end applications.
In December 2015, Apple took the first steps toward this cooperation with IBM. The iPhone manufacturer delivered Swift as open source, while IBM pushed out an intuitive browser-based catalog enabling developers to start writing code in Swift almost instantly.
IBM's marching toward a stronger Cloud presence has to be understood in perspective. The company already stated that it works toward cloud-focused partnerships. Some of the big names that IBM shook hands with are Bitly, VMware and GitHub.
"[Swift will be] the major language for the next 20 years of programming in our industry," Craig Federighi Apple senior vice president of Software Engineering says.
Stay tuned to learn more about the evolution of cloud based enterprise apps, as well as Swift's role in the process.
