I think this debate would be easier to resolve if it moved from abstractions like “C++ style” and “Swift style” to specific style rules.
Would someone who prefers “Swift style” be willing to list some specific deviations from WebKit’s C++ style guidelines, why they prefer those deviations, and why that preference should outweigh concerns about consistency? One deviation I heard was “no un-required semicolons”. First, I agree with that proposal. Second, as stated it may not technically be a deviation from WebKit’s C++ style guidelines — C++ just happens to require semicolons in more places. > We already use the `swift-format` tool for all WebKit Swift code using a > style I came up with several years ago I don’t think “I got here first” should settle this debate. We want to welcome in others who get here later. Thanks, Geoff > On Nov 5, 2026, at 12:42 PM, Ryosuke Niwa via webkit-dev > <[email protected]> wrote: > > For Python, we seem to just use PEP. I would have objected to adopting that > if I still worked a lot on Python. I'm fine with Objective-C having its own > style because it's a language I rarely ever have to touch myself. > > Generally speaking, Python and Objective-C coding styles only affects a > subset of engineers some of the times. With Swift, we're talking about > rewriting the entire engine in it. The level of scrutiny it requires is at a > completely different level. > > - R. Niwa > >> On Nov 5, 2026, at 19:14, Aditya Keerthi <[email protected]> wrote: >> >> >> I strongly disagree with the idea that we should simply adopt the existing >> C++ style guide with the one modification Ryosuke stated. I agree with >> Abrar’s sentiment that there could be project-specific tweaks to the >> conventional Swift style. >> >> In Swift, semicolons are optional and conventionally omitted. I do not think >> we should start adding semicolons to our Swift code just to match C++ style. >> >> However, for things such as line length limit, I would be more inclined to >> keep the same rules as our C++ source files. >> >> I believe that we should work towards defining a Swift-specific style guide, >> and document it in https://webkit.org/code-style-guidelines/ along with our >> existing C++ and Python style guides. >> >> I’d also like to note that we already have language-specific styles. The >> largest difference is between our Python and C++ style guides. Furthermore, >> we have Objective-C-specific style rules. For example, in Objective-C, >> instance variables are prefixed with “_”; in C++, we use “m_”. It is not at >> all unprecedented to need to change styles when working with different >> languages across the WebKit project. >> >> - Aditya >> >>> On Nov 5, 2026, at 9:07 AM, Mike Wyrzykowski via webkit-dev >>> <[email protected]> wrote: >>> >>> I strongly agree with Ryosuke, it is best to maintain a consistent style >>> throughout the codebase. >>> >>> Swift is a relatively new language still undergoing rapid development, it >>> is hard to argue there is a canonical Swift style that will not change in >>> the future. 20 years ago many ‘modern’ C++ coding guidelines were pushing >>> styles that ultimately fell out of use for one reason or the other. >>> >>> Changing style as Swift continues to develop / introduce new guidelines >>> will lead to style fragmentation across the codebase in addition to >>> fragmentation from the rest of the codebase. >>> >>> It is better to follow WebKit’s existing coding style. Style is language >>> agnostic: one can make C++ look like Haskell, JavaScript can be written >>> both C-like and functional-like, etc. Remembering to use a certain style >>> for Swift and another style for C++ seems to make less sense than >>> consistently following a single style. >>> >>>> On Nov 4, 2026, at 1:41 PM, Eric Carlson via webkit-dev >>>> <[email protected]> wrote: >>>> >>>> >>>> >>>>> On Nov 4, 2026, at 10:29 AM, Ryosuke Niwa via webkit-dev >>>>> <[email protected]> wrote: >>>>> >>>>> >>>>>> On Nov 4, 2026, at 6:04 PM, Abrar Protyasha <[email protected]> >>>>>> wrote: >>>>>> >>>>>> I want WebKit to adopt suggested/conventional Swift style, maybe with >>>>>> some well-reasoned (and agreed on) project-specific tweaks. I don’t know >>>>>> if there is added value in having source files of two different >>>>>> languages follow one style? Swift is vaguely C-lang styled, but >>>>>> otherwise it’s a very different programming language and we don’t >>>>>> necessarily need it to look the same as C++. >>>>> >>>>> Consistency is important. Otherwise we’d have to constantly change the >>>>> style between when we’re writing C++ vs. Swift. >>>>> >>>>>> There may be specific issues with the existing Swift style format >>>>>> enforced in the project that we may want to debate, but for the most >>>>>> part it seems best to just use as much of the defaults opined by >>>>>> swift-format. >>>>> >>>>> I strongly disagree. >>>>> >>>>> >>>> >>>> +1 >>>> >>>> -eric >>>> >>>> >>>>> >>>>> _______________________________________________ >>>>> webkit-dev mailing list -- [email protected] >>>>> To unsubscribe send an email to [email protected] >>>> _______________________________________________ >>>> webkit-dev mailing list -- [email protected] >>>> To unsubscribe send an email to [email protected] >>> >>> _______________________________________________ >>> webkit-dev mailing list -- [email protected] >>> To unsubscribe send an email to [email protected] >> > _______________________________________________ > webkit-dev mailing list -- [email protected] > To unsubscribe send an email to [email protected]
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