Add the 2024 SSWG update blog post

_posts/2024-02-01-sswg-update-2024.md

@@ -0,0 +1,83 @@
+---
+layout: post
+published: false
+date: 2024-03-01 10:00:00
+title: SSWG 2024 Annual Update
+author: [Joannis, ktoso, FranzBusch]
+---
+
+In this yearly post, the Swift Server WorkGroup (SSWG) reflects on the community, ecosystem wide accomplishments and the WorkGroup's focus areas for the year ahead.
+
+Since our [previous update post](/blog/sswg-update-2023/), Swift on the Server has continued to mature.
+
+Let's start with a review of the progress made in 2023, before looking at the next steps in 2024.
+
+# 2023 in Review
+
+## Continued focus on growing the ecosystem
+
+The SSWG has continued to focus on growing the ecosystem by incubating packages and providing guidance to package authors. We've seen a lot of new, in development and improved packages this year. One example of a new packages is `swift-memcache-gsoc` which was developed as part of last years Google summer of code. The wire protocol and higher level connection APIs are done. The remaining work is implementing a connection pool and key sharding. The SSWG is looking forward to continued work on this package.
+
+## Adoption of Structured Concurrency
+
+We've seen a lot of progress on the adoption of Structured Concurrency. Most new libraries are adopting it, and we're working on a guide to help existing libraries adopt it as well. Two big drivers of Structured Concurrency in the ecosystem have been SwiftNIO's introduction of `NIOAsyncChannel` and the `ServiceGroup` of the rewritten ServiceLifecycle package. Together we see both of them as foundational pieces for higher level libraries to build their logic using Structured Concurrency.  For example Hummingbird and GRPC are currently being rewritten from the ground up using those two building blocks.
+
+## Tooling Improvements
+
+Tooling has seen some tremendous improvements in 2023. We've seen the introduction of Swiftly, Dependabot for Swift and Chiseled Containers.
+
+In addition, thanks to the introduction of Package Plugins, we've seen the OpenAPI Generator make an entry. This plugin allows you to generate Swift boilerplate code from an OpenAPI specification. This is a great way for building both HTTP clients and servers.
+
+## Server Community Survey
+
+For the first time, we did run a developer community survey, aimed at collecting feedback and information about the shape and breadth of the Swift Server ecosystem.
+We received a huge amount of responses, for which we'd like to thank everyone! 
+
+We analyzed the responses and used them to how we're doing with current efforts, and help direct the group's goals and efforts in the upcoming year (see below).
+For example, while the majority of respondents already use Swift Concurrency, there remain challanges in some areas with adoption. 
+Among the highlights that shaped our goals for the next year were: a huge interest in standardized tooling for e.g. swift-format, as well as sourcekit-lsp and various IDEs.
+
+We highly encourage you to have a look at the full [SSWG Community Survey 2024 Report](http://TODO), over on the Swift forums!
+
+## New Members
+
+Since our update post of 2023, [Sven A. Schmidt](https://github.com/finestructure) has joined the workgroup. Sven has already been involved with the documentation workgroup, and is known for his work on Swift Package Index.
+
+# Ecosystem
+
+Last year, we've seen seven new packages enter the SSWG incubation process. A tremendous amount of work has been done on these packages, showing how rapidly the ecosystem is expanding.
+
+- **Swift Distributed Actors (Cluster)** was accepted in January 2023. This package allows you to write peer-to-peer clusters in Swift, using distributed actors.
+- **Cassandra Client** was accepted in February 2023, providing a Swift client for Apache Cassandra.
+- **SQLiteNIO** was accepted in September 2023. This package provides an SQLite driver for Swift, and is commonly used through Vapor's Fluent ORM.
+- **Swift Service Context** and  **Swift Distributed Tracing** were accepted in October 2023. These packages enable distributed tracing for Swift. Rounding out the three pillars of observability.
+- **DiscordBM** was accepted in October 2023. DiscirdBM is a Swift client for Discord's Bot API, and is used in Vapor's Penny bot.
+- **Swift OpenAPI Generator** was also accepted in October 2023, providing a Swift code generator for OpenAPI specifications, allowing you to generate both servers and clients.
+
+In addition, **MongoKitten** was pitched and approved at the start of 2024. MongoKitten is a popular MongoDB driver for Swift.
+
+# Goals for 2024
+
+## Preparing for Swift 6
+
+In preparation for Swift 6, we'll be looking at the impact of the strict concurrency checking across the server ecosystem. We are planning to enable strict checking on every incubated package and make each package compile warning free under the strict checking rules.
+
+## Adoption of Structured Concurrency
+
+Adoption of Structured Concurrency has been going strong but the journey isn't finished. In the coming year, we'll be focusing on adopting Structured Concurrency in even more libraries with the goal of making SwiftNIO an implementation detail of more and more libraries.
+
+In addition to working on libraries, we are also planning to work on more guides for developers of libraries and applications on how they can adopt Structured Concurrency and what benefits it brings.
+
+## Standardised HTTP Server and Middlewares
+
+In 2023, we've extensively prepared for a standardised HTTP server and middlewares. The in progress, Hummingbird rewrite is already taking advantage of the new HTTP types. The goal for 2024 is to produce a low-level general purpose HTTP server package.
+
+## Marketing Swift on the Server
+
+Marketing Swift on the Server is a big focus area for 2024. With the introduction of the redesigned navigation of the [swift.org](swift.org) website, we'll be able to better showcase Swift on the Server. 
+
+We're looking to create more content for the ecosystem, such as integrated example projects and showcases of Swift-Server projects.
+
+In addition, we're looking to connect developers by organising online user group meetings. We're currently planning the first Swift Server User Group meeting, with our goal being three or four meetings per year going forward.
+
+Finally, we're seeing a new edition of the [Swift Server Conference](https://serversideswift.info) in 2024, which will be hosted in London.