Swift is a high-performance, general-purpose, safe, operational, demanding, object-oriented, block-structured programming language that supports multiple paradigms.
Evolution of Swift
Swift was created after extensive study of other languages in the field. It follows Apple Inc.’s modern guidelines for software security and design principles. It was first referred to as “Objective-C without the C” by its creators in 2014. For a long time, Objective-C was the go-to language for developing apps that ran on OS X and iOS. It is widely agreed that Objective-C is a basic superset of C and that it offers a number of advantages over C, including an enlarged object-oriented feature set and a dynamic runtime.
- The first version was released at Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference in 2014, making 2014 the birth year of Swift (WWDC). It was created by “Chris Lattner” to address issues with Objective C and bring forth more involvement in the development process.
- It was updated to version 1.2 toward the end of 2014.
- Swift 2.2. was released in December 2015 as open-source software for Linux and Apple systems, licensed under the Apache Licence 2.0. Swift 2.0 was unveiled at WWDC 2015.
- Swift 4.2 is currently available, and a beta version of Swift 4.3 and Xcode 10 are also available.
- Swift was created to be fully compatible with Apple’s Cocoa, the Cocoa Touch frameworks, and the large amount of current Objective-C code that runs on Apple devices.
It quickly rose to prominence, becoming one of the five most popular programming languages. The widespread support it received from Apple users eventually led to the death of traditional Objective C. It is a cutting-edge programming language for creating polished apps for Apple’s latest operating systems, including iOS, watchOS, macOS, tvOS, and more. Generics, closures, and type inference are just a few of the features that make Objective-C more approachable to developers by streamlining familiar programming patterns. By including C and Objective-functionality C’s without C compatibility built-in or its associated limitations, It totally reimagines the process of creating mobile applications for Apple’s devices. Want to learn the latest trending technologies in the field of IT? Join Softlogic, the Best Software Training Institute in Chennai.
Principal considerations for selecting Swift :
These are the significant reasons for the popularity and usability of Swift over iOS and OS X.
- The readability of Swift is exceptional
- It is a trustworthy platform
- Less work, less legacy
- Codes developed in Swift are simple to maintain
- Rapid Speed
- It accepts a variety of Dynamic Libraries
- The unique “Playground” function
- The platform is open-source
The readability of Swift-language is exceptional
The first and main benefit of using Swift is that it has a clean syntax, which makes it simpler for programmers to write code and for debuggers to find bugs. There are many more lines of code in C objective than in Swift. With it, we can achieve the same effects with fewer lines of code. This is because it does not employ legacy standards like semicolons at the end of each line or parentheses to enclose a block of code, to denote conditional expressions within if/else statements or while loops.
Errors in syntax were common in objective C before their removal, and developers now appreciate the extra time they have. The elimination of the bracket chaos caused by method calls being nestled inside one another is another major improvement. They employ a comma-separated list of arguments encased in parentheses instead, making for more clear and more understandable code. Since the English language is so widely used, Swift code may be created with greater ease and in less time than other programming languages. Due to It’s clear syntax, it’s simpler for Python, C#, Perl, JavaScript, Ruby, Java, and C++ developers to incorporate it into their workflow.
It is a trustworthy platform
Developing a safe app is now a priority for developers who want to stand out in today’s app industry, which is becoming increasingly competitive due to the availability of a plethora of tools for creating and distributing apps. It’s unique syntax allows its developers to avoid the pitfalls that would be too difficult for a beginner in Objective-C. This consistency greatly lessens the possibility of system failure or algorithm malfunction. Not that it guarantees the programmer won’t make any mistakes, but it does make it less likely that they will. It’s like having a second quality assurance check on the code.
When wrong codes are entered into Swift, the nil code is used as input, and compilation problems are produced. It allows for simultaneous code writing and compilation, which is not possible with Objective-C. The encouraging result is that Swift outperforms Objective-C in terms of both security and speed. For this reason alone, it’s worth thinking about Swift-based apps.
Less work, less legacy
Numerous bugs in Objective-C cause programs to unexpectedly quit working. Thanks to Swift’s inline support for modifying text strings and data, the code it generates is more robust and less prone to bugs. Moreover, the interface and implementation of a class are not kept separate. As a result, the total number of files in the project is slashed in half, making them much simpler to organize and locate. It eventually reduces the amount of time and effort needed to do common programming tasks like string manipulation and the creation of repeating functions. Combining strings in Objective-C results in more lines of code, but the “+” sign in Swift is all that’s needed to link strings together.
Codes developed in Swift are simple to maintain
Improvements to C are necessary for Objective C to advance. On the other hand, it doesn’t rely on any other language, making it more manageable. C-Objective still uses the time-consuming practice of maintaining dual-code files in order to improve build time and increase coding efficiency. By integrating the Objective-C header (.h) and implementation (.m) files into a single code file, Swift does away with the need for the cumbersome dual-code legacy (.swift). It allows developers to spend more time on application logic and improving the quality of their code, comments, and features offered by its libraries, while Objective-C requires developers to manually synchronize function names and comments existing between files.
Rapid Speed
It’s massive speed advantage over Objective-C results in dramatically reduced development expenses. The speed of a sophisticated object sort, for instance, is 3.9 times faster in this language than in a comparable Python solution. I’d say that’s a significant improvement over Objective-C, which is only 2.8 times quicker than Python. Performance-wise, it’s on par with C++, the industry standard for the quickest algorithms in computation and arithmetic. An article from Primate Labs, released in December 2014, sheds light on the fact that C++ and Swift perform similarly. Apple has assured its audience that it would continue to work on making it perform app logic more quickly.
Swift accepts a variety of Dynamic Libraries
Dynamic libraries are reusable chunks of code that can be integrated into an existing program. Since the Swift programming language is still in development, these libraries provided a bridge between the existing Swift apps and later releases of the language. These libraries boost the performance of the application without increasing the size of the application, as they are loaded into memory instead.
The unique “Playground” function
It’s “Playground” feature lets programmers put newly developed algorithms through their paces before they’re even used to build an app. Apple has added inline code execution to Playgrounds to help kids learn to code by letting them write small pieces of code or algorithms and getting immediate feedback. This iterative cycle of input and analysis might help programmers write better code more quickly. Apple’s attempts to streamline and democratize software development are strengthened by the combination of Playground and Swift.
This platform is Open-Source
In 2015, it was declared an open-source platform, opening the door for it to compete with other languages for use by back-end developers. When we talk about Apple’s “open-sourcing” Swift, we mean that the company will actively listen to the concerns of the community and make necessary adjustments to the language so that it may continue to thrive on its own merits and with the help of third-party developers. It’s no secret that the worldwide community of developers’ enthusiastic backing is a major factor in Swift’s enormous success.
It is now the go-to language for building iOS apps and has mostly superseded C for embedded programming on Apple’s platforms. Swift, Apple’s programming language, is attractive to younger programmers because of its similarity to popular languages like Ruby, Python, etc. You’ll find it to be a piece of cake if you’re comfortable with Python or Ruby. Apple’s “playground” features for Swift have made it simpler for newcomers to learn the language. It’s rise to the top 25 only took five months.
It’s rising profile can also be attributed to the growing number of worldwide educational institutions that are including it in their curricula. Whether to choose Swift vs Objective-C for development depends on a number of criteria that vary from company to company, making the decision to use either language never simple. The developer’s personal choice for a certain programming language, the nature of the project and the team, and other factors all play a role in determining the best language to use.
