Writing GNOME Apps with Swift

Swift is well-suited for creating user interfaces thanks to the clean syntax, static typing, and special features making code easier to write. Result builders, combined with Swift’s closure expression syntax, can significantly enhance code readability.

→ swift.org/blog/adwaita-swift/

Adwaita for Swift is a new open-source package that enables Swift developers to create GNOME applications for Linux, leveraging Swift’s clean syntax, static typing, and result builders for a declarative, readable, and memory-safe user interface design.

Unlike traditional imperative bindings in languages like Python, it simplifies UI updates by tying them to data changes, such as automatically updating a counter display with a single @State variable, and supports persistent storage with minimal code.

The package enhances readability by allowing UI definitions within Swift code, avoiding separate XML or Blueprint files, and supports cross-platform development for Linux, macOS, and Windows, with shareable backend code for SwiftUI and GNOME apps.

It integrates with Flathub for easy app distribution on Linux via the Freedesktop SDK Extension for Swift 5, streamlining publishing with tools to convert Swift Package Manager dependencies into Flatpak sources.