Which programming language do you need for iOS app development Swift or Objective-C?
As the iOS platform is gaining popularity and Apple users have high payment ability, businesses concentrate on strategic efforts to give the best quality products. The right tech stacks are important here. When Swift was introduced in 2014, it caused a lot of confusion in the iOS development world.
Such programming languages as Objective-C and Swift are used to code the Apple software products under macOS, iOS, tvOS, watchOS, CarPlay, and Linux (only for Swift) operating systems.
These languages have the appropriate app programming interfaces (APIs) and frameworks (Cocoa, Cocoa Touch). Objective-C appeared in the late 80s and influenced Smalltalk (for object-oriented syntax) and C (for non-object) programming languages. The difference between these two languages is that Swift is not based on the C language. Swift doesn't have any inheritance and is just compilable with C libraries and frameworks. It owns more powerful tools and modern coding solutions for easier, but expressive coding, app safety, and performance. Besides, the language is intuitive, and that's why it is easier to learn for new developers.
Advantages of Objective-C
1- Objective-C is an approved, well-tested language
It is reliable and has been used and tested by many developers.
2- Objective-C is more stable
3- Easier usage of private APIs
4- Objective-C is easily compatible with C++
As it has routes from a C language, products integrating parts of C or C++ code operate smoothly.
Benefits of Using Swift
1- Swift is faster
It is faster than Objective-C, because it removed the limitations of C language and has been improved with the help of advanced technologies that were unavailable when C was developed. As mentioned by Apple, Swift was originally designed to operate faster.
2- Swift is safer
The construction of Swift has been designed to exclude and avoid mistakes with the help of its features – generics, optionals, and type interference to achieve app stability.
3- Swift is more readable
To start, code in Swift more closely resembles English, making it easier to read and requiring less time to check the code.
4- Swift has less code
Swift is a more compact language for programming.
5- Swift is less error-prone
Swift’s syntax and language constructions exclude the several types of mistakes potentially possible in Objective-C. This control means fewer crashes and cases of unexpected behavior.
6- Swift integrates with memory management
ARC (Automatic Reference Counting), the memory management functionality inside the Clang compiler, manages the memory of digital objects. This is easily handled with Swift working across procedural and object-oriented code using Cocoa API.
In Swift coding, unified memory management developers should not give attention to each digital object, but rather concentrate on the general logic of the application and its features.
7- Swift is an open-source language
Swift was originally created for Apple platforms (iOS, OS X, watchOS, tvOS) and was further expanded to Linux. Its creators understood the fact that to build a remarkable modern programing language, it should be available for everyone. Swift helped to develop many third-party frameworks & tools and has resulted in a growing community.
8- Swift has interactive coding
Swift Playgrounds has introduced new opportunities to developers. This tool makes it possible to test code on the spot without compiling big pieces of it or creating the whole app. Playgrounds visualizes data and programmers can quickly check and correct everything along with further development. It is especially applicable to custom views and code experiments.
9- Swift is closer to other platforms
Apple’s modern programming language is easier to understand for non-iOS developers and minimizes the time taken for additional explanations and clarifications. This influences the productivity of work positively.
Moreover, Swift can be used as a script language. It is an interesting solution for the iOS community to unify the writing of build scripts.
10- Swift is Apple’s ongoing focus
Apple Inc. is concentrating on evolving Swift as its core programming language.
Follow this fundamental article to learn the detailed comparison of Swift vs Objective-C