Tag: Windows

Apple releases Xcode 15 with Swift 5.9 toolchain.

Xcode 15 includes Swift 5.9 and SDKs for iOS 17, iPadOS 17, tvOS 17, watchOS 10, and macOS Sonoma.

• Swift macro support brings inline expansions and breakpoint debugging in the source editor
• Git staging helps craft your next commit without leaving your code
• String catalogs streamline localization with a single place to view and edit strings
• Bookmarks help organize your favorite locations and searches in your projects
• Test reports provide summary view, testing insights, and video playback for UI automation results
• OSLog offers a structured and customizable logging mechanism in the debug console
• Documentation Preview editor brings real-time preview for DocC content
• Archive workflows streamline distribution with simplified export and upload to TestFlight and the App Store

Mac App Store – Xcode

Swift 5.9 is now officially released for supported platforms.

This is a major new release that adds an expressive macro system to the language and introduces support for integrating Swift into C++ codebases through bidirectional interoperability.

It also introduces parameter packs, an improved expression evaluator while debugging, enhanced crash handling, Windows platform improvements, and more.

Swift Blog

Mac App Store: Xcode

Release Notes: Xcode 15 Release Notes

Swift Blog: Swift 5.9 Released

Apple releases iTunes 12.12.10 for Windows adding support for iPhone 15 models.

Microsoft Store: iTunes

Parallels releases Parallels Desktop 19 bringing Touch ID support for password-less login. This versions also adds support for upcoming macOS 14 Sonoma.

Other improvement include:

• Improved OpenGL support, up to version 4.1, for running more CAD software on Mac, including VariCAD, Deswik.CAD, Vectorworks Vision 2023, and more.
• Improved performance for AcrGIS Pro, a map designing application. 
• Compatible to run CentOS 9 Stream on Mac computers with Apple silicon, along with an updated set of ready-to-go Linux distributions, including Ubuntu 22.04.2, Fedora 38, Debian 12, and more. 
• New option to create Arm-based Linux VM on Mac computers with Apple silicon using Rosetta to run x86-64 binaries, including containers. 
• Enhanced support for the HashiCorp’s Packer and Vagrant with macOS VM on Apple silicon. 
• New option to create, group, and manage Parallels VMs and their containers from the Visual Studio Code extension. 
• Support for enrolling Windows in Windows management solutions, such as Microsoft Intune and others, when deploying it using Parallels My Account Configuration Profile or as a shared file.

Parallels: Parallels Desktop 19 for Mac

Reference: Parallels Desktop 19 Adds Password-Less Sign-In With Touch ID Support, macOS Sonoma Compatibility, and More

Swift Server workgroup (SSWG) publishes annual update highlighting 2022 accomplishments and 2023 plans.

Workgroup highlights ecosystem growth with new libraries, migration to Swift modern concurrency model, new tools for server-side development.

2023 goals are set as follows:

• Continued focus on growing the ecosystem
• Adoption of structured concurrency
• Expand the documentation and guides
• Improve tooling

Swift Blog: SSWG 2023 Annual Update

CrossOver allows Mac (and Linux) users to run Windows applications. New update brings support for EA and DirectX 12 games. Update provides geometry shaders support.

Compared to Game Porting Toolkit, CrossOver provides better user experience so far, but it is also expected that both technologies will evolve and provide Mac users with more options to run games natively.

CodeWeavers Blog: Level up with CrossOver 23

Reference: CrossOver update brings EA and DirectX 12 game support to Mac

Game Porting Toolkit gets update to beta 1.0.2. This update brings significant performance improvements as long as some important compatibility enhancements bringing support for games previously failed to be ported.

Researches highlight that some games are running better on Apple Silicon Pro and Max chips rather than Ultra chips.

Andrew Tsai made some tests with this update and was able to confirm these performance improvements.

Download: Game porting toolkit beta 1.0.2

References:

• Apple’s Game Porting Tool for macOS got its first update – and it’s a huge one
• Apple's Windows Game Porting Toolkit gets faster with new update
• The Trouble With Mac Gaming
• Game Porting Toolkit gets a BIG SURPRISE update! (video)

Apple's Game Porting Toolkit is now being evaluated by developers and journalists. It turns out that even without any code changes some of the games could run pretty well on the Mac.

Some additional tweaking by game developers could help improving performance and minimize overhead caused by this translation layer. Essentially, Game Porting Toolkit is Wine patch that allows DirectX 12 commands translation into Metal.

Apple Developer: Apple technologies for game developers

WWDC23:

• Bring your game to Mac, Part 1: Make a game plan
• Bring your game to Mac, Part 2: Compile your shaders
• Bring your game to Mac, Part 3: Render with Metal

References:

• Apple’s Game Porting Toolkit Is Already Showing Results
• Apple’s Secret Weapon to Getting PC Games on Mac
• Apple’s Game Porting Toolkit’s Support for DirectX 12 is a Big Deal for Gaming on the Mac

iTunes for Windows prior to 12.12.9 had a critical security vulnerability. Issue is now resolved and all users are encouraged to update as soon as possible.

Microsoft Windows Apps: iTunes

Reference: PSA: Serious Windows iTunes vulnerability discovered, immediate update advised

Hursh Agrawal tweeted that The Browser Company is now working towards bringing developer toolchain for Swift to Windows.

Announce mentions their plans to bring Arc browser to Windows platform in 2023.

Company plans to bring VSCode integration, compiler and debugger, and WinAppSDK bindings.

Reference: The Browser Company Is Building a Swift Development Toolchain for Windows

Foundation package provides Swift implementation of Foundation for all Swift platforms.

The following types are available in the preview package, with more to come later. Many types, including JSONEncoder, Calendar, TimeZone, and Locale are all-new Swift implementations. FormatStyle and ParseStyle available as open source for the first time.

• FoundationEssentials
  • AttributedString
  • Data
  • Date
  • DateInterval
  • JSONEncoder
  • JSONDecoder
  • Predicate
  • String extensions
  • UUID
• Internationalization
  • Calendar
  • TimeZone
  • Locale
  • DateComponents
  • FormatStyle
  • ParseStrategy

This is still a preview version, so use with caution!

GitHub: swift-foundation

Swift Blog: Foundation Package Preview Now Available