Swift ported – A developer has built a Swift development environment that targets the original Apple II and later models like the IIe. The setup compiles Swift into bytecode for a virtual machine running on the 6502—aimed at working on a factory-standard Apple II from 1977,
He started with a question that sounds almost impossible until you see the machine run: could Swift be made to live on the oldest Apple platform still out there—an Apple II that launched in 1977 with a 1 MHz 6502 CPU and only 4 KB of RAM?
The answer, at least in one person’s hands, is yes. [Yeo Kheng Meng] built a development environment for Swift that targets the Apple II family. It’s not limited to a single model either. The work is aimed at everything from the original Apple II up through the IIe, and “a little beyond.”
Swift itself is a relatively modern language—appearing in 2014 as a replacement for Objective-C. Over the years, it’s become a popular way to build applications across Apple platforms. The twist here is what [Yeo] chose to bring it to: hardware that predates the entire modern ecosystem by decades.
The Apple II isn’t just older—it’s fundamentally different from today’s Macs and iPhones. Yet [Yeo]’s approach is grounded in the reality of the original system. The compiler is configured to output bytecode, and that bytecode is then executed by a virtual machine running on the 6502.
That detail matters, because it’s how the project tries to stay faithful to the original machines. The stated target was specific: the setup should work on a standard 1977 Apple II straight from the factory, and then run on later models without issue.
There’s a catch, and it’s the kind that only shows up when you try to make modern languages behave on 1970s constraints. [Yeo]’s implementation requires the Apple II’s RAM to be upgraded to 48 KB. Without that memory boost, the setup can’t do what it promises.
To get the whole system stitched together, [Yeo] also leaned on modern coding assistance, using Claude Code and GPT 5.5 Codex while building the development environment.
The result is a “Portal” port—an Apple II experiment that, judging by the concept alone, captures the joy of pushing contemporary tools into vintage territory. And if you want to watch it in motion, there’s a video showing the work in action: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GFuMG0EhEWo.
Swift Apple II 6502 programming languages retro computing virtual machine Claude Code GPT 5.5 Codex Portal port
Swift on an Apple II?? That’s wild but also seems like it’d melt the whole thing lol.
So like… they upgraded the RAM to 48 KB and then it works. Isn’t that cheating? If you need more memory then it’s not really the original 1977 setup.
I don’t get why it needs a “virtual machine” on a 6502. Wouldn’t it be easier to just compile it normally? Also the article says GPT 5.5 Codex like okay what, the computer is 1977 but the AI is new??
People really out here doing Swift bytecode on a 6502 like it’s 2014 again… I watched a clip once and it took forever, so I’m not convinced it’s actually useful. If you can upgrade to 48 KB anyway, why not just use whatever language those old systems already supported? Still cool though, like retro vibes. Also I thought Apple II didn’t have enough power, so this feels kinda like a marketing headline.