Hello, Swift is one reason beside the bookkeeper Cook that Apple is now absolutely free from any innovation. Apple can´t innovate anymore as Jobs is dead and the programming language is crap as the other static typed candidates. When you really want and love a static typed language you can take kotlin the riginal not the bad copy.
How many apps are there who are written in swift and are innovativ: exactly 0. > Am 26.09.2025 um 20:27 schrieb Ethan C <[email protected]>: > > Well, those apps are rather unpopular, and I'd assume (I haven't looked into > them specifically) probably have more polished free alternatives for Gtk and > Qt. I think we need to either do a kind of app that has many competitors, > where we port a very polished macOS app, or an app that does not really have > any comparable Gtk or Qt app. > > Also, this exercise has kind of convinced me that we really do need to get a > fixed Swift compiler soon. > > On 9/26/25 12:35, Patrick Cardona wrote: >> Hello Ethan, >> >> What about those apps related to the Cocotron project? >> Maybe we could also try to port them to GNUstep? >> >> - ComicLife (a comic reader) >> - ShelSpace (a book shelf and reader) >> >> >> On 2025-09-23 02:50:11 +0200 Ethan C <[email protected]> wrote: >> >>> Hi everyone, >>> >>> I've always thought that it would be good to try to port macOS applications >>> to GNUstep, for a few reasons: >>> >>> * It shows that GNUstep is complete enough to port real applications >>> * It helps show us in which areas we are weak or strong at >>> * It could potentially get us new users, especially for users who are >>> migrating from macOS to GNU/Linux or who use multiple operating >>> systems regularly >>> >>> The current wishlist on the wiki does not really have many good ideas for >>> existing applications to port, so I looked for some high-quality >>> Objective-C + AppKit applications that might be interesting (see the >>> wishlist below). I'd like to hear your thoughts. >>> >>> So far, I think that iTerm2 would probably be one of the most complex >>> things to do, but it would probably be quite popular. TextMate was formerly >>> extremely popular, but is not as popular anymore as the v2 rewrite took >>> much longer than expected. SubEthaEdit is quite innovative, but was quickly >>> overtaken in popularity by TextMate. >>> >>> Thanks, >>> >>> Ethan >>> >>> >>> Wishlist of porting Mac apps >>> >>> This is mostly open-source Mac applications written in AppKit and >>> Objective-C, which are either currently popular or were popular in the >>> 2000s and 2010s. >>> >>> I did not include any Swift applications; we can evaluate that once we have >>> a working Swift compiler with Objective-C bridging. >>> >>> >>> Other lists to look at >>> >>> * https://github.com/jaywcjlove/awesome-swift-macos-apps >>> * https://github.com/serhii-londar/open-source-mac-os-apps >>> >>> I also asked ChatGPT for various historical applications, which I then >>> reviewed myself to find some more detailed information and get rid of >>> extraneous information. >>> >>> >>> Objective-C + AppKit >>> >>> >>> Terminals >>> >>> * iTerm2 <https://iterm2.com/> (GitLab >>> <https://gitlab.com/gnachman/iterm2>; GitHub mirror >>> <https://github.com/gnachman/iTerm2>; GPL-2.0) -- extremely popular >>> terminal emulator >>> o There are dozens of discussions on Hacker News >>> >>> <https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&query=iterm2&sort=byPopularity&type=story> >>> >>> if you want to see users' opinions >>> + Many users claim there are useful features not found in any >>> GNU/Linux terminal emulator >>> o Older versions >>> + 3.6.0 (2025-09-15) -- last version to support 10.15 Catalina >>> + 3.0.15 (2017-03-25) -- last version to support 10.8 Mountain >>> Lion >>> + Very old versions support 10.5 and 10.7 >>> o Possibly difficult parts >>> + It currently includes a decent amount of Swift code; >>> requires macOS 12.4 >>> + AppleScript >>> + Built-in web browser >>> >>> >>> Editors >>> >>> * TextMate <https://macromates.com/> (GitHub >>> <https://github.com/textmate/textmate>; GPL-3.0-or-later) -- >>> formerly extremely popular text editor >>> o Requires 10.12 Sierra or later >>> o Unmaintained since 2021 >>> * SubEthaEdit <https://subethaedit.net/> (GitHub >>> <https://github.com/subethaedit/SubEthaEdit>; MIT license) -- >>> real-time collaborative editor >>> o Requires 10.13 High Sierra or later >>> o Unmaintained since 2022 >>> >>> >>> PDF documents and LaTeX >>> >>> * Skim <https://skim-app.sourceforge.io/> (SVN >>> <https://svn.code.sf.net/p/skim-app/code/trunk/>; BSD-3-Clause) -- >>> PDF reader and annotator >>> o Does not seem to include Swift code >>> o Development started in April 2007 >>> o Popular for reading/annotating scientific papers >>> o PreSkim <https://github.com/scris/preskim> -- fork with Big Sur >>> user interface >>> * BibDesk <https://bibdesk.sourceforge.io/> (SVN >>> <https://sourceforge.net/p/bibdesk/svn/HEAD/tree/>) -- BibTeX >>> bibliography editor >>> o Development started in 2002 >>> o Does not seem to include Swift code >>> o Possibly difficult parts >>> + AppleScript >>> + Built-in web browser for viewing Google Scholar >>> * TeXshop <https://pages.uoregon.edu/koch/texshop/> (GitHub mirror >>> <https://github.com/TeXShop/TeXShop>) -- LaTeX editor >>> o Development started in 2000 >>> o Does not seem to include Swift code >>> >>> >>> Media and graphics >>> >>> * Vienna RSS <https://www.vienna-rss.com/> (GitHub >>> <https://github.com/ViennaRSS/vienna-rss>; Apache-2.0) -- RSS reader >>> o Possible difficulties >>> + Requires WebKit >>> * Cog <https://cog.losno.co/> (GitHub >>> <https://github.com/losnoco/cog>; GPL-2.0) -- Music player >>> * Seashore (GitHub) <https://github.com/robaho/seashore> (GPL-2.0) -- >>> Simple image editor >>> o More details >>> >>> <https://librearts.org/2019/01/meet-seashore-free-image-editor-for-macos/> >>> o Although originally based on GIMP, most GIMP code has been removed >>> o Discussion on Hacker News >>> <https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31051991> >>> o Possible difficulties >>> + Heavy use of CoreGraphics and CoreAnimation >>> >>> >>> Applications where we might be able to convince the author to >>> release the code >>> >>> * Pineapple News <https://www.platinumball.net/pineapple/news/macosx/> >>> -- Usenet newsreader >>> o "This version is totally free, and will not expire. I still use >>> it myself quite a lot, but active development has ceased. If >>> anybody has a burning desire to take over maintenance of the >>> program, send me an e-mail." >>> o I don't think enough people use Usenet for this to be worthwhile >>> if it takes a lot of effort, but given its age it might be easy >>> to port >>> * MailMate <https://freron.com/> -- Email client >>> o It's a very powerful client with low resource usage >>> o Although it is commercial software, all of the features are >>> available in the free version >>> o This is certainly less likely that we could convince the author >>> to release the code, but it is more likely than many other >>> applications >>> >>> >> >
