- Google stirred a minor controversy when it came out that it had "forked" Swift — a mega-popular programming language created by Apple.
- If it had forked Swift, it would mean that Google was looking to take the Swift language and make its own version, which could split the Swift community in two.
- However, Business Insider has confirmed that Google only "forked" Swift so it could make its own contributions to the language. It's another sign of Swift's quick rise to Silicon Valley superstardom.
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Google caused a minor controversy when it announced it had 'forked' Apple's Swift programming language — but Google tells us it's all a misunderstanding (AAPL, GOOG, GOOGL)
Google "forked" Apple's programming language, Swift. But Google's Chris Lattner tells Business Insider the minor hubbub is misplaced — here's why.
This week, Google stirred a minor hubbub when it came out that it had "forked" Swift — an immensely popular Apple-created programming language that's taking the world by storm.
In the world of programming, "forking" a software project means making a copy that you modify into a whole new product. For instance, Amazon's FireOS for tablets is a specialized fork of Google's own Android. The news that Google had forked Swift fueled speculation that the search giant was going to take the language and run with it.
Well, not so. Chris Lattner, who created Swift at Apple, did a short stint as a VP at Tesla, and now works at Google, tells Business Insider the whole situation is a "misunderstanding." Rather, it's a sign of how much Google's corps of programmers loves the Swift language.
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The problem is terminology: On GitHub, the code-sharing site where the Swift project is housed, "forking" and "copying" are the same thing. Google had merely copied the Swift code to its own GitHub space, such that the search giant's own programmers could pore over it and make their own suggestions for improvements to the main project.
Swift at Google has enough ... @ Chris Lattner
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