Which Programming Language is better for iOS Mobile Application Development? Swift or Objective C

I hear this question every time whenever i meet any iOS mobile application developers.

Should i use Objective C or Swift?

It’s a common confusion for the iOS Developers, if you ask anyone in the industry, you will get the different responses depending upon whom you ask.

One developer may have had a bad experience or complexity in understanding one of these programming languages so he/she will always steer clear of the other one.

In contrast, some developers just go with whichever language they learnt first or feel more comfortable with using. Everyone can have their favorite.

The reality is that there is not always a clear choice.

Here is a quick key highlights on each of the programming languages.

What is Swift?

Swift is a brand new programming language which is developed by Apple. It was first released in June 2014, so the developers are still getting used to it. Apple have created Swift language to work with both Cocoa Touch and Cocoa. This language can work for iOS, MacOS, tvOS and watchOS.

The basic concepts of Swift programming language are similar to Objective C at its core, such as Dynamic Dispatch, Late Binding and Extensible Programming. But Swift is different in terms of its ability to catch the bugs of software. It also points the things like null pointers, which are casual programming bugs/errors. So now the question is how does it stack up when it comes to performance compared to the Objective C?

When Apple have introduced Swift 2.0 at the Apple WorldWide Developer conference in 2015, they have presented this information.


With this level of higher programming speed then Objective C, Swift programming language has to be clear favorite in terms of developer presence. What you think?

I won’t get into the conclusion just yer. We will discuss about this at later stage.

Basically, the Swift Programming language is an open source so it was developed by outside developers as well as the apple developers. Even in the early years of Swift release it can already support Linux environment in addition to all of the Apple’s platforms.

What is Objective C?

Objective C is the main programming language for iOS and Apple OS X. It’s by far the oldest of these programming languages, and it was first introduced very early in 1984. As per the Apple, this language offers object oriented capabilities as well as a dynamic runtime binding.

Objective-C is the main programming language for Apple OS X and iOS.

Using Objective C means you will get all kind of language level support for your object literals and object’s graph management. Objects are a huge component for building OS C and iOS Applications. Cocoa Touch and Cocoa can provide you with some of these classes and Objects.

If you have never ever used Objective C but you are very much familiar with other types of C based programming languages such as C, C++, C# (Used by MicroSoft) or Java (used by Android), then it should not be as difficult as for you to understand. For those of you with extensive knowledge of other advanced Object Oriented programming languages such as Python or Ruby, you won’t get trouble in understanding the Objective C either.

There are lots of established coding rules that you will have to follow when you are writing your program in Objective C. For example, Capitalization matters when you are writing commands, specially for the multiple words which is referred to as camel case.

So i briefly mentioned classes in their relationship to objects above during the overview of the Objective C. I must say, Swift eliminates lots of classes that are perceived as unsafe code. By default, any swift objects can never be nil. As a result, it is a safe and lean way for the developers to write the code. Ultimately this can prevent a large number of crashes.

Also Swift has a very unique feature that is called Optionals. With the Optionals, there are certain instances where nil can be valid, but the syntax will make you deal with it a way that is safe and easy to comprehend.

Another benefit of the Swift coding is that you can define your intent easily with the keywords that are only three characters length. This will save your time of coding in the long run.

PROS. and CONS. for Swift VS Objective C

Pros :

  • Apple boasts increased performance over Objective-C. Swift is swimmingly fast and works with collections like a shot. Its new syntax is much more concise and friendly than the notoriously difficult Objective-C.
  • Swift accumulates all the pros from different programming languages like Python, JavaScript, Go, Ruby, and others. Swift is easier to understand — it has more rational code, which decreases the length of the code and thus the time of development.
  • Swift is easier and faster for programmers to learn. It makes creating iOS applications much more accessible. With more programmers using it, the customers will have a broader choice of developers.
  • Swift will replace Objective-C at the end of the day. Though this appears to be the very distant future of objective-c and Apple's dropping of support for Objective‐C seems to be years down the road, those who think perspectively should start using Swift now. 

Cons :

  • The apps written in Swift can be uploaded to the App Store only after iOS 8 and Xcode 6 are released. The timeframe for release is reported to be September-October, 2014.
  • Before a stable version of Swift is released, functions of the apps may work incorrectly.
  • Apple promises that the combination of the Swift and Objective-C components is possible. It can be used as a temporary feature. However, many programmers recommend writing applications using only one programming language to ensure accurate performance.
  • Since this programming language is new, the pool of Swift developers is limited.

Conclusion 

So Let us get back to the initial question, Which programming language is better Swift or Objective C?

Actually that you have decide by yourself instead of asking someone as it is dependent on so many parameters like your experience on programming language, Delivery time, Client Preference etc...

Objective C very much older and currently more popular but it is little bit more complex to learn and understand, but the majority of the developers out there already know how to use it and how to develop it using Objective C.

Swift is still new in the market but it is making a very fast progress. It is perceived as a safer option compared to the Objective C programming language and it is very easy to learn as well. But with that said, it is still not the very best option for good large projects.

Regardless of what you are going to decide, I think that SWIFT is the programming language of the future. So if you haven’t learned it yet, see if you can find some time to learn it very soon.

 

 

 

 

 

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