There was a time when Objective-C was the driver behind Swift application development. It enjoyed sustained use by Apple for 20+ years. This fact honestly wasn’t a surprising statement at World Wide Developers Conference 2014. Yet the next minute made history. At that moment, Apple revealed a new language, Swift. Its main points are speed and interactivity. Thanks to that, Swift programming language has gained a lot of ground over the years. Since you’re here, it might be alluring to use it for your project. If that’s the case, get intimate with its benefits and drawbacks.
Advantages of Swift Programming Language
1. Purity and developer experience
Swift application development scales the Objective-C complexity down to good, simple code. Using this language makes your app development process way faster and easier. You can even use shorthand argument labels to improve the experience. This clarity aids you in saving time and provides excellent ease of reading with less room for error.
Notably, Swift has a strong typing system. That brings any mistakes to your eyes quicker. To that end, Version 5.3 from September 2020 pushes for better error messages that are easier to manage. Boilerplate code and redundancies are under fire. Overall, Swift’s iteration loop is robust. Apple is sure to focus on this in the future.
It is impossible to forget that ease of learning is crucial for beginners. Many people can prove that starting in Swift is more pleasant than in Object-C. An app called Swift Playgrounds is even teaching people the language without any prior coding knowledge required.
2. Scalability and growth
In 2021, Swift is a more mature language than it was at the start. Its feature list has grown substantially. It now includes options, protocols (and their default implementation extensions), and things like optional function arguments. Perhaps, seven years ago wasn’t the time to fully embrace using Swift. It sure was a challenge for it to satisfy every need of your project. Yet today, it has grown into a tool for modern companies. Its open-source nature and a growing community are steadily fueling relevant employment in the industry.
If other Apple products are any indication, the company will not stop supporting its creation any-time soon. Swift is sure to receive updates to give its users the most convenient development experience possible.
And if you are still using Objective-C, you will like this one. If your project needs an upgrade, you can do one with Swift. It is interoperable with Objective-C and vice versa. That means you can even add Obj-C to a Swift project if needed.
3. Performance
Swift has done extremely well in several benchmarks during the WWDC 2014. Python? Behind. Objective-C? Behind. Swift is much faster even at complex tasks. A lot of that comes from doing the same things better. For example, memory usage is tracked automatically. Swift takes the trash out for you as you work. Therefore, your apps will come out boosted without sacrificing the CPU. This technology is what Apple calls Automatic Reference Counting. ARC has already saved many developers valuable time.
Memory footprint optimization is yet another showcase of Swift’s prowess. The language supports calling dynamic libraries, which only load when they’re needed. Imagine using static third-party libraries that take up more space. Exactly. Size matters.
Disadvantages of Swift Programming Language
1. Young age could mean rocky updates
Migrating to Swift isn’t the easiest task. It indeed is an infant in the programming world. Even upgrading to a newer version could be tricky. To fix some of that, Apple rolled out the Application Binary Interface architecture in Swift 5.1. Unfortunately, differently compiled code could still have problems trying to work with each other. Updating to a new version of Swift may not be received by many developers and programmers as the most exciting use of their time. In Objective-C, you could just make a static library and add it as a dependency.
2. Strictness
Weirdly enough, it’s often the ease of use that hinders your progress. This comes from the language being strict and statically typed. The resulting speed is an advantage, but one of the downsides is not having reflectivity. Yes, Swift objects can provide a list of their members. However, those can not be changed from the inside. A feature like this would be valuable for testing purposes. Java had that for a long time.
Regardless, backward compatibility and stability have significantly improved. Naturally, Apple keeps updating the official documentation with useful information. Hence, Swift is expected to steadily mature over time.
3. The community is still relatively small
According to a Stack Overflow developer survey from 2020, Swift is more popular than its predecessor, Objective-C. True, both are far from the likes of Java. And understandably so. Swift cannot boast a widely-adopted status yet. Do not forget that it is a compiled language. This is important because it has its disadvantages in web development. Swift is undoubtedly behind JavaScript here.
More so, 7 years of life is simply not enough to escape the Apple-exclusive label. This again ties into the immaturity of the language. Of course, something like Java with 25+ years in the field is sure to amass a sizable following and a vast library of learning resources. Unfortunately, Swift isn’t there yet. However, there is a notable demand for developers who know it. Established companies like Twitter and Vimeo are tapping into language’s efficiency to develop their apps.
Conclusion:
Swift aims to modernize coding. Besides, it wants to replace Objective-C as the language for Apple apps. It is strong typed, readable, and very effective. These are just some of the main characteristics of Swift. Do you know where Objective-C is lacking? Speed. Doing repetitive tasks. Indeed, Swift does it better. That is what people love. Truly, the feature list is growing.
Yes, the language is still young. Yes, Swift does not have the track record of yearlong stability required for mass adoption. Nonetheless, that could happen in the future. Apple’s pivot to augmented reality on mobile might just bring more people to Swift.
A lot needs to happen to put the language in a leading position. In the meantime, Swift application development is definitely worth paying attention to.
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