Programming languages are tools that help developers communicate with computers and build everything from apps to AI systems.

Apple's Swift programming language can now be used to develop for Android, and share code with iOS apps. Swift was launched by Apple in 2014 — although it had secretly been in development since 2010.

A quiet but game-changing shift is underway in mobile development. Thanks to a new update, developers may soon find it dramatically simpler to bring iOS apps to Android — and it’s all because of Swift ...