The use of `let` to declare immutable values is well-established in programming languages. Academics have no problem with this (and, indeed, prefer it -- at least, everybody I've talked to about it in the PL research community seems to prefer it). The same or a similar form is used in Scala, OCaml, JavaScript, Lisp, Scheme, etc. Some of these languages provide mutable contrasting forms, such as `var`. Tracking mutability so explicitly allows for more advanced static analyses.
Using `..<` and `...` is pretty simple to figure out from context. The former produces an exclusively-bounded interval on the right, while the latter is an inclusive interval. This is functionality that more languages could stand to adopt, in my opinion.
I agree that the names themselves are not very transparent. However, they become less opaque as you learn the Swift ecosystem. Admittedly, this makes them not as immediately user-friendly as Python's simple names, but it's not as though they're some gigantic obstacle that's impossible to overcome.
Personally, I like Swift a lot (even though I never use it). It has a syntax that has improved on languages like Java and Python, it's generally fast, it's statically typed, and it has a large community. The fact that implicit nullable types are discouraged directly by the syntax is phenomenal, and the way Swift embraces a lot of functional programming capabilities is also great. If it weren't so tied to Apple hardware, I would likely recommend it as a first language for a lot of people. (I know that it runs on non-Apple hardware, but my understanding is that support has been somewhat limited in that regard, though it's getting better.)
> However, they become less opaque as you learn the Swift ecosystem
IMO that's essentially the problem. Most people* don't want to have to learn the ecosystem of a language because it's not their focus.
The other issue is that when you start googling for information about the Swift ecosystem, you're not going to find anything relevant to academic, mathematical, or data-science programming. All the information you will find will be very specific to enterprise-grade iOS and macOS development, which will be a huge turn-off to most people in this community.
Writing off a language/syntax/toolset because you couldn’t be bothered doing < 5 minutes of searching to figure out something that will probably yield net-benefits in the future is an incredibly myopic thing to do in my opinion.
Like you said: people in PL research. They specifically work on researching programming languages. But that is just a tiny fraction of what academic world has.
Using `..<` and `...` is pretty simple to figure out from context. The former produces an exclusively-bounded interval on the right, while the latter is an inclusive interval. This is functionality that more languages could stand to adopt, in my opinion.
I agree that the names themselves are not very transparent. However, they become less opaque as you learn the Swift ecosystem. Admittedly, this makes them not as immediately user-friendly as Python's simple names, but it's not as though they're some gigantic obstacle that's impossible to overcome.
Personally, I like Swift a lot (even though I never use it). It has a syntax that has improved on languages like Java and Python, it's generally fast, it's statically typed, and it has a large community. The fact that implicit nullable types are discouraged directly by the syntax is phenomenal, and the way Swift embraces a lot of functional programming capabilities is also great. If it weren't so tied to Apple hardware, I would likely recommend it as a first language for a lot of people. (I know that it runs on non-Apple hardware, but my understanding is that support has been somewhat limited in that regard, though it's getting better.)