Swift Is the Way of the Future for iOS App Developers
When Apple CEO Tim Cook launched Swift in 2014, he said that it would be “the next great programming language,” and that iOS app developers will only use Swift to build apps in the next 20 years.
Turns out, Tim was right.
Today, Swift programming language is not just a success story that Tim claimed it would, but it’s also going to be the future for iOS app developers. Looking for Hire iOS Developers for your business needs.
In reality, since its introduction, Swift has taken the majority of the market.
But, if you’re an iOS app developer who still thinks differently, we’re going to alter your opinion.
In this essay, we’re going to explain everything you need to know about Swift and why Swift is the future for iOS app developers.
Swift – An Introduction
Swift is a pro-developer programming language that was meant to be friendly for beginners.
In fact, Swift as a programming language is even recognized as very near to the English language as it’s easy to learn and develop.
Besides this, Swift is also an instinctive and authoritative programming language you may use to design apps for all Apple products.
It was mainly built and launched in the market to replace Objective-C that has been in existence since 1984.
Swift is also incredibly easy to maintain as Xcode(IDE) automagically senses code faults in real-time. And the biggest advantage of Swift for an iOS developer is that it’s an open-source language.
And the greatest part is, using Swift you can design apps for iPhones and iOS, iPad, MacBook, Apple Watch, and Apple TV, which are basically all Apple products.
History of Swift
A Swift development team started working on Swift in 2010 before Apple formally introduced it in 2014 at Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference.
Several indie developers and start-ups rapidly joined the bandwagon to experiment with Swift’s features, like minimized crashes and concise syntax.
Swift was created to be a straightforward, short language that was both powerful and easy to comprehend. However, to many people, it seems as a natural extension of Objective-C.
Swift’s first version was 1.0 which received a substantial upgrade to Swift 2 at WWDC 2015.
Swift’s upgraded version 2.2 was made available as an open-source software under the Apache License 2.0 on December 3, 2015, for Apple’s platforms and Linux.
Swift 3.0, the third version, also went through a dramatic evolution where its syntax was modified. Swift overtook the fame of Objective C in the first quarter of 2018.
Later, Swift again went through various modifications in the Swift 4.0 version where you may update the code developed with prior versions of Swift utilizing the migration capability built into Xcode.
The final line is, Swift has fast matured into becoming a robust and highly preferred iOS programming language today.
But, if you’re still not convinced, let’s look at the essential characteristics of Swift programming language and learn why it’s better than Objective C in every respect.
Top Features of Swift Programming Language
Open Source \sSwift application development was done by the Swift.org, a site which is dedicated to the open-source Swift community. It is made utilizing source code, a bug tracker, email lists, and normal development lists.
Swift.org also provides a Linux version of Swift, together with a specific Linux toolset that features package management support, the LLDB debugger, and the REPL. Swift allows you to create apps for iOS, OS X, tvOS, and watchOS.. Although, it only operates on a Mac.
In other words, Swift improves application development safer and faster while making programming more pleasant.
Advancement in Syntactic \sWith Swift’s new syntax enhancements, you can now write more expressive code. The SDKs have employed new Objective-C features such as null-ability and generics explanations to make code safer and cleaner.
Interactive Playgrounds
Swift’s Playgrounds are an advantage to professional developers. It allows programmers to test out new visuals or algorithm routine, without having to design a whole iPhone app.
Apple has also included inline code execution to playgrounds that would assist the programmers to design an algorithm or create a big number of codes while getting feedback along the way. This feedback loop can ultimately enhance the pace at which the code can be written.
Playgrounds can also have comments that employ bullet lists in addition to embedded photos and links.
Safety
Swift removes entire groups of hazardous code. For instance, Integers are checked for overflow, variables are always initialized before used, and memory is handled automatically.
Another positive feature of Swift is that the Swift objects can never be zero, meaning it can give a compiler error, as soon as you write faulty code.
In other words, faults can be solved as code is created, which will decrease your time and money that you will spend on repairing errors.
Lastly, it generates a runtime crash if a NIL optional variable has been utilized which will help to evade the bug or to repair it sooner totally in Swift code.
Fast and Powerful
Swift has considerably improved by abandoning old C conventions. It employs the highly high-performance LLVM compiler to translate Swift code into an optimized native code.
Swift has made Object classification substantially quicker and faster than Python. In reality, it provides developers with crucial object-oriented capabilities such as classes, protocols, and generics, which eventually gives the Cocoa as well as the Cocoa Touch developers the authority and performance they need.
Objective-C Interoperability
Swift’s total interoperability with Objective-C, enabling you to construct a project that involves files written in either language. You can set up apps that have a mixed-language codebase.
Also, you can implement aspects of your app’s functionality by using Swift’s latest capabilities and bring it seamlessly back into your old Objective-C codebase.
Benefits of Swift Programming Language
Let’s explore several methods about how swift programming language is advantageous.
It reduces Development Time
Experienced developers enjoy a programming language that they can read without any complication. Swift delivers this since it comes with a crisp syntax, which makes the process of reading, creating, and altering a lot simpler.
It also requires less code lines to execute an option. The reason for this is that it gets rid of legacy conversions. Experts feel that it gets near to matching plain English making the overall techniques more natural.
This results in saving both time and money, which makes the app development process more pleasurable.
Below is an example of a simple syntax using the “For-In” process using Swift.
With this programming language, you do not need to include any semicolons at the end of parenthesis while working with doubtful statements. It helps to remove numerous types of problems that might crop up notably with Objective-C.
Swift is Low-Maintenance
Creating an app and making it available to users is not the end of the journey. You have to continuously updating it so that users can enjoy it for the longest possible time.
While utilizing Objective C, developers had to sustain two code files if they wanted to boost the efficiency of the code.However, with Swift, it is no longer necessary because it combines (.m) and (h) files into a single (.swift) file.
It Is Built for Safety
Safety is the number one issue for anyone wanting to come up with an app. And the best thing is you will not have to deal with any hazardous codes when dealing with Swift.
It also leverages the latest programming conventions in order to help developers keep the watertight security on the apps they design.
Note that the programming language permits a person to describe valuables as value types or optional kinds. It suggests that a competent developer has the option to classify whether the value exists or it is null (nil) (nil).
It indicates that if a developer takes NIL optional value by mistake, the programming language will activate a runtime crash. This remains on the line of code pushing the developer to take care of any errors immediately soon.
In short, Swift does not open up any options for you to construct hazardous flaws or exception-free apps.
Open Source
In 2015, Apple claimed that the programming language was Open Source.
It was a welcome step by many developers because it means that Swift may be utilized across many platforms and for backend infrastructure as well.
It is among the key reasons many developers opt to utilize it instead of other other programming languages.
In reality, it is safe to conclude that the choice from Apple contributed considerably to Swift’s development and adoption.
Today, Swift is ranked among the top programming languages in the world.
And the way things are going; it will soon gain the first place and remain there for a while.
Experiment Possibilities
Swift comes with a playground mode that folks can take advantage of to practice on some application principles.
It makes things lot easier because it offers you a true view of how the app will turn out so that you can know whether to proceed or concentrate on a more practical project.
It is very vital to incorporate the programming language supports dynamic libraries.
These signify to executable bits of code that developer’s link to a program. Put it simply, It permits current Swift apps to link with newer versions of the language in future years as it advances.
Swift vs Objective C – 4 Reasons Swift is the Future for iOS App Developers
Let’s see:
Swift is easier to read
Swift code is quite comparable to natural English, in addition to other recent popular programming languages. This makes it a lot more easier for the existing developers of the JavaScript, Java, C++, C#, and Python to welcome Swift into their toolchain.
Swift is easy to maintain
Due to the many device resolutions and screen sizes, it is fairly tricky to certify that your program is compatible with the platform. This is in addition to dodging or minimizing issues and crashes for users who are still on the older versions of the operating system.
Statistically, Android consumers take more time to accept new operating systems, whereas Apple users are more inclined to change their operating systems.
Swift is safer
One noteworthy characteristic of Objective-C is the way in which pointers—especially nil (null) pointers—are handled. In Objective-C, nothing occurs if you try to call a method using a pointer variable that is nil (uninitialized) (uninitialized).
The expression or line of code becomes a no-operation (no-op), and while it would appear useful because it doesn’t crash, it has been a big source of errors. A no-op leads to unpredictable behavior, which is the enemy of programmers trying to detect and solve a random crash or cease unusual behavior.
Swift demands less code
Swift minimizes the amount of code required to write repeating statements as well as the string manipulation.
Objective-C demands too many steps while working with text strings for connecting two bits of information.
Swift includes modern programming language features such as adding two strings together with a “+” operator, which was greatly required in the Objective-C.
Support for combining characters and strings like this is crucial for any programming language that shows text to a user on a screen.
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