Introducing Server-Side Swift

Swift is a strongly and statically typed programming language that has been used extensively for client-side development in iOS, macOS, tvOS, and watchOS. The open source developer community has brought Swift to the Linux platforms, making Swift a cross-platform programming language. In this chapter, we will explain why the open source developer community has extended Swift for server-side development, and how they have streamlined the workflow for both server and client-side development using the same programming language.

There are several server-side Swift frameworks, and most of them are developed and maintained by the Swift developer community. We will take a closer look at the three top server-side Swift frameworks: Vapor, Kitura, and Perfect. Each of these frameworks has a different set of features and benefits. We hope that you feel comfortable with choosing the right Swift server-side framework for your next server-side project.

In this chapter, we will cover the following topics:

• Introducing Swift
• Surveying Swift server-side frameworks
• Choosing the right framework