This document lays out the structure of the Foundation project, and provides the current implementation status of each major feature.
Foundation is divided into groups of related functionality. These groups are currently laid out in the Xcode project, even though they are in a flat structure on disk.
As Foundation is a work in progress, not all methods and functionality are present. When implementations are completed, this list should be updated to reflect the current state of the library.
-
Runtime: The basis for interoperability.
The classes and methods in this group provide an interface for interoperability between C code and Swift. They also provide common layers used throughout the framework such as the root class
NSObject
.NSObject
is mostly implemented.NSEnumerator
is fully implemented.NSSwiftRuntime
(internal use only) contains Swift runtime-specific functionality.NSObjCRuntime
is missing some key parts such as NSClassFromString. Much of the functionality here is specific to the Objective-C runtime and is not relevant when building for Swift.
-
URL: Networking primitives.
The classes in this group provide functionality for manipulating URLs and paths via a common model object. The group also has classes for creating and receiving network connections.
NSURL
is mostly implemented.NSURLSession
and related classes are not yet implemented.- Note:
NSURLConnection
is deprecated API and not present in this version of Foundation.
- Note:
-
Formatters: Locale and language-correct formatted values.
This group contains the is the base
NSFormatter
class and its subclasses. These formatters can be used for dates, numbers, sizes, energy, and many other types.NSFormatter
is fully implemented.NSDateFormatter
is mostly implemented.NSNumberFormatter
is mostly implemented.- The remaining formatters are not yet implemented.
-
Predicates: Base functionality for building queries.
This is the base class and subclasses for
NSPredicate
andNSExpression
.- These classes are not yet implemented.
-
Serialization: Serialization and deserialization functionality.
The classes in this group perform tasks like parsing and writing JSON, property lists and binary archives.
NSPropertyList
is mostly implemented.NSCoder
andNSKeyedArchiver
are mostly not yet implemented (a few funnel methods are implemented).NSJSONSerialization
is partly implemented (serialization is not yet implemented)
-
XML: A group of classes for parsing and representing XML documents and elements.
The classes provided in this group are responsible for parsing and validating XML. They should be an interface for representing libxml2 in a more object-oriented manner.
- These classes are not yet implemented.
-
Collections: A group of classes to contain objects.
The classes provided in this group provide basic collections. The primary role for these classes is to provide an interface layer between the CoreFoundation implementations and the standard library implementations. Additionally, they have useful extras like serialization support. There are also additional collection types that the standard library does not support.
Note: See Known Issues for more information about bridging between Foundation collection types and Swift standard library collection types.
NSOrderedSet
is not yet implemented.NSCFArray
(internal use only) implements toll-free bridging between Swift and CoreFoundation array types.NSIndexSet
is fully implemented.NSIndexPath
is fully implemented.NSArray
is partially implemented.NSDictionary
is partially implemented.NSCFDictionary
(internal use only) implements toll-free bridging between Swift and CoreFoundation dictionary types.NSSet
is partially implemented.NSCFSet
(internal use only) implements toll-free bridging between Swift and CoreFoundation set types.NSCache
is fully implemented.NSSortDescriptor
is not yet implemented.
-
RunLoop: Timers, streams and run loops.
The classes in this group provide support for scheduling work and acting upon input from external sources.
NSPort
is not yet implemented.NSPortMessage
is not yet implemented.NSRunLoop
is not yet implemented. Its CoreFoundation equivalentCFRunLoop
is available, but needs some work to remove a dependency on libdispatch.NSStream
is not yet implemented.NSTimer
is not yet implemented.
-
String: A set of classes for scanning, manipulating and storing string values.
The NSString implementation is present to provide an interface layer between CoreFoundation and Swift, but it also adds additional functionality on top of the Swift standard library String type. Other classes in this group provide mechanisms to scan, match regular expressions, store attributes in run arrays attached to strings, and represent sets of characters.
Note: See Known Issues for more information about bridging between the Foundation NSString types and Swift standard library String type.
NSRegularExpression
is not yet implemented.NSScanner
is fully implemented. Note: This class contains some experimental API. See the source for more details.NSTextCheckingResult
is not yet implemented.NSAttributedString
is not yet implemented.NSCharacterSet
is fully implemented.NSString
is partially implemented.NSCFString
(internal use only) implements toll-free bridging between Swift and CoreFoundation String types.
-
Number: A set of classes and methods for representing numeric values and structures.
NSRange
is fully implemented.NSDecimal
is not yet implemented.NSDecimalNumber
is not yet implemented.NSGeometry
is fully implemented.NSAffineTransform
is fully implemented.NSNumber
is fully implemented.NSValue
is not yet implemented.
-
UserDefaults: A mechanism for storing values to persist as user settings and local.
NSUserDefaults
is not yet implemented.NSLocale
is fully implemented.
-
OS: Mechanisms for interacting with the operating system on a file system level as well as process and thread level
NSFileHandle
is mostly not yet implemented, excluding a few methods used for plutil.NSFileManager
is partially implemented.NSTask
is not yet implemented.NSBundle
is mostly not yet implemented. The CoreFoundation implementation ofCFBundle
is available to use.NSProcessInfo
is mostly implemented.NSThread
is fully implemented.NSOperation
is not yet implemented.NSLock
is fully implemented.NSPathUtilities
is mostly implemented.
-
DateTime: Classes for representing dates, timezones, and calendars.
NSCalendar
is fully implemented. Note: This class contains some experimental API. See the source for more details.NSDate
is fully implemented.NSTimeZone
is partially implemented.
-
Notifications: Classes for loosely coupling events from a set of many observers.
NSNotification
is not yet implemented.NSNotificationQueue
is not yet implemented.
-
Model: Representations for abstract model elements like null, data, and errors.
NSNull
is fully implemented.NSData
is mostly implemented.NSProgress
is not yet implemented.NSError
is fully implemented.NSUUID
is fully implemented.NSPersonNameComponents
is not yet implemented.FoundationErrors
is an interoperability layer betweenNSError
and Swift error handling.