Apple listens to the community
After all the game changing announcements on the WWDC one of the words that is used a lot is “finally!”. We’re excited and happy that Apple as finally given us a new UI framework, FRP, etc. But it’s interesting how the way we all talk implies that Apple has been ignoring us for years and until they woke up in 2019.
And although part of this is to blame to their secrecy, we need to be realistic. They can’t announce something until is ready and they know it’s a good compromise. Because everything official they give us will have to be maintained for decades to come. This is something that is often forgotten.
But everything indicates that this is far from the truth. That Apple is always working on what’s next, that they listen, and when is ready for us, they give it to us.
Check out this tweet from Joe Groff that give us some insight into this:
Combine goes back before even Swift existed. I’ve been helping the SwiftUI folks for at least three years, and they were probably working on stuff before I knew about it
— Joe Groff (@jckarter) 4 de junio de 2019
Combine started before Swift existed!
And David Smith gives us more info:
I was curious what the earliest Combine-related file I have on my computer is, and it turns out it's August 14th 2013. I filed the radar it references on 10/23/2012.
— David Smith (@Catfish_Man) 5 de junio de 2019
Also apparently yet another short-lived project name I forgot about?? pic.twitter.com/FR6NADWrs5
This means that while everybody was arguing if FRP was the future or not, Apple was already giving it a try internally. And that when I was complaining years ago and wishing for a declarative UI, they’re working on it.
This is really interesting because it proof us that Apple doesn’t live on its own bubble. They listen.
We often forget that great things take years to bake. Another interesting tweet is from Peter Steinberger
Heard that Marzipan and Amber weren’t supposed to launch the same year. Catalyst took longer and SwiftUI was faster ready as what was planned.
— Peter Steinberger @ WWDC (@steipete) 6 de junio de 2019
Catalyst (Marzipan) was supposed to be ready last year, and SwiftUI probably next one. The fact that we got everything at the same time also shows us how as big as Apple is, they still deal with software estimations, they’re humans just like us.
I guess what I’m trying to say is that we should have a little more faith on them, if not for the company, for the individuals working on it. Remember this when we get frustrated again because something is missing. It’s all a question of time.