In the WWDC 2024 session, "Bring context to today's weather", it was mentioned that the Swift API now uses FlatBuffers when downloading the weather data to the client device.
Will Apple's API for FlatBuffers be made available to developers? If its already in the SDK (client side) it would seem a shame to have to include another framework that does the same thing.
Will Apple's API for FlatBuffers be made available to developers?
We can’t really answer questions about The Future™. If you’d like to see this added in the future, I encourage you to file an enhancement request describing your requirements.
Please post your bug number, just for the record.
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Quinn “The Eskimo!” @ Developer Technical Support @ Apple
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It's hard to specify requirements when there is no more information available. I current use Protobufs, but if Apple has a built in implementation of FlatBuffers that is available it makes more sense to use it unless there is something lacking in the implementation.
I will file an enhancement request with what little information I have. (FB14055509)
btw, why make such a big deal about FlatBuffers in the session video if its strictly an internal implementation detail? If there was no intent to make it available to others it seems an irrelevant to the primary content of the session video.
btw, why make such a big deal about FlatBuffers in the session video if its strictly an internal implementation detail?
I suspect the motivation is found in the transcript here:
If you are using the Swift API, this optimization comes for free. While if you use the REST API, it is optional, and you can activate it by specifying an accept header.
And here:
If you are using the REST API, please consider taking advantage of the new FlatBuffer response.
So they are telling REST API users to go grab FlatBuffers from GitHub for whatever platform they are using, while the WeatherKit framework of course remains closed source and just so happens to use FlatBuffers too.