Pledge is a lightweight reactive programming framework for Swift designed to be simpler and more performant than RxSwift. It aims to provide a more accessible entry point to reactive programming by offering a reduced API surface, focusing on core functionalities like observables, operators, and subjects. Pledge avoids the overhead associated with RxSwift, leading to improved compile times and runtime performance, particularly beneficial for smaller projects or those where resource constraints are a concern. The framework embraces Swift's concurrency features, enabling seamless integration with async/await for modern Swift development. Its goal is to offer the benefits of reactive programming without the complexity and performance penalties often associated with larger frameworks.
This Hacker News post introduces Pledge, a new reactive programming framework specifically designed for the Swift programming language. The author emphasizes Pledge's lightweight nature and its avoidance of the perceived overhead associated with RxSwift, a popular reactive framework. The post links to the Pledge GitHub repository, which contains the framework's source code and documentation.
The core premise of Pledge is to provide a simplified approach to reactive programming, offering a more streamlined and potentially more performant alternative to existing solutions like RxSwift. While reactive programming can be beneficial for managing asynchronous operations and data streams, the author implies that the complexity and resource consumption of established frameworks can be a deterrent for some developers. Pledge aims to address this by providing a more focused and less resource-intensive implementation.
The project appears to be in its early stages of development, as evidenced by the version number and the relative lack of extensive documentation. However, the GitHub repository provides a basic overview of Pledge's functionalities and includes example code demonstrating its usage. The author's intent in sharing Pledge on Hacker News is likely to solicit feedback from the developer community and potentially attract contributors to the project. The implication is that Pledge offers a potentially valuable new tool for Swift developers interested in leveraging the power of reactive programming without incurring the perceived performance costs of more comprehensive frameworks. The focus is on simplicity and efficiency, suggesting that Pledge might be particularly suitable for projects where resource management is a critical concern.
Summary of Comments ( 2 )
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43641576
HN commenters generally expressed skepticism towards Pledge's performance claims, particularly regarding the "no Rx overhead" assertion. Several pointed out the difficulty of truly eliminating the overhead associated with reactive programming patterns and questioned whether a simpler approach using Combine, Swift's built-in reactive framework, wouldn't be preferable. Some questioned the need for another reactive framework in the Swift ecosystem given the existing mature options. A few users showed interest in the project, acknowledging the desire for a lighter-weight alternative to Combine, but emphasized the need for robust benchmarks and comparisons to substantiate performance claims. There was also discussion about the project's name and potential trademark issues with Adobe's Pledge image format.
The Hacker News post discussing Pledge, a lightweight reactive framework for Swift, has generated a moderate amount of discussion, with several commenters expressing interest and raising pertinent questions.
One of the most compelling threads revolves around the performance comparisons between Pledge and Combine, Apple's built-in reactive framework. A commenter questions the benchmark presented in the project's README, specifically pointing out that Combine's performance is known to be suboptimal when dealing with a large number of subscribers and frequent updates. They suggest that a more realistic benchmark would involve scenarios with a substantial subscriber count and rapid value changes to accurately gauge Pledge's performance advantage. The author of Pledge responds to this, acknowledging the feedback and indicating their intention to incorporate more comprehensive benchmarks in the future. They also discuss the inherent difficulties in creating a completely fair comparison given the differences in the frameworks' architectures.
Another significant point of discussion is the project's scope and goals. A commenter asks whether Pledge intends to be a full-fledged reactive framework like Combine or a more focused solution addressing specific use cases. The project author clarifies that Pledge prioritizes simplicity and performance, aiming to provide a lightweight alternative for common reactive patterns without the complexity and overhead of Combine. They emphasize that Pledge isn't designed to be a complete replacement for Combine but rather a more streamlined option for specific scenarios.
Several commenters express general interest in the project and commend its approach. Some suggest potential improvements, including exploring alternative implementation strategies and considering compatibility with Swift's existing concurrency features.
Finally, there's a brief discussion regarding the project's license. A commenter notes the absence of a license file and inquires about the intended licensing terms. The author promptly addresses this by adding an MIT license to the repository.
Overall, the comments on the Hacker News post reflect a positive reception of Pledge. The discussion focuses primarily on performance comparisons with Combine, the project's overall goals, and potential areas for improvement. The author actively engages with commenters, addressing their questions and demonstrating a willingness to incorporate feedback.