A SwiftUI Runtime in C++

a year ago

Kulve's SwiftUI runtime is a cross-platform, multithreaded, fully async runtime written in C++ with minor Objective-C scaffolding.
The runtime was developed to optimize performance for Kulve, aiming for a lightweight, fast, and efficient Twitch experience with extended battery life on Apple silicon.
Performance optimization involved three key steps: eliminating data copies, managing a single instance of all data to avoid ownership issues, and connecting the runtime to SwiftUI using NotificationCenter.
The runtime uses void* pointers for type erasure and efficient memory management, avoiding the overhead of std::any or std::variant.
NotificationCenter is utilized to connect the runtime with SwiftUI, enabling direct communication without data copies and providing control over data lifetimes.
The runtime includes mechanisms to handle thread management, data population, and message sending, with a focus on avoiding race conditions and nullptr dereferences.
A deferred deallocation strategy is employed to ensure SwiftUI views complete their operations before data sources are deallocated.
The runtime is part of a recent AppStore submission, with the developer open to discussions about its implementation details.

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