That was a long time ago, I thought. The word "systems" was removed from the swift website years ago when it was clear that it did not really have that priority.
> The goal of the Swift project is to create the best available language for uses ranging from systems programming, to mobile and desktop apps, scaling up to cloud services.
> Fast. Swift is intended as a replacement for C-based languages (C, C++, and Objective-C). As such, Swift must be comparable to those languages in performance for most tasks. Performance must also be predictable and consistent, not just fast in short bursts that require clean-up later. There are lots of languages with novel features — being fast is rare.
Those are literally the stated goals. It does not get more clear than saying "Swift is intended to be a replacement for C-based languages (C, C++)..."
> Fast. Swift is intended as a replacement for C-based languages (C, C++, and Objective-C). As such, Swift must be comparable to those languages in performance for most tasks. Performance must also be predictable and consistent, not just fast in short bursts that require clean-up later. There are lots of languages with novel features — being fast is rare.
Those are literally the stated goals. It does not get more clear than saying "Swift is intended to be a replacement for C-based languages (C, C++)..."
[0]https://www.swift.org/about/