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.
As you know, Objective-C has proven to be stable and has been used for many years in development. On the other hand, the newest programming language, Swift, gives lots of benefits and a more modern way of coding.
You don't know what the difference between Swift and Objective-C is and which language is better for your project. Learn the detailed comparison of Swift vs Objective-C to make your choice.
Objective-C was created in the 1980s by the company Stepstone, by Brad Cox and Tom Love. Later, the Objective-C trademark spread to Apple Computers. Objective-C has been a standard programming language for macOS and, later, iOS and other Apple platforms since then. The main specification is in its maturity, as it has been used and tested for many years for Apple’s software.
On the other hand, Swift is not limited to Apple OS. It became an open source and cross-platform programming language in 2015. This takes away the unsafe pointer management and at the same time gives interaction with long-standing Objective-C and C code bases. Nowadays Apple Inc. promotes the use of Swift and gives constant language version updates.
The following table provides the general technical characteristics for Swift vs Objective- C.
Now the development world is discussing which language is better for iOS development Swift or Objective-C. Many projects, systems, and APIs have been developed in Objective-C.
So, let's look at the pros and cons of each, starting with Objective-C.
iOS Objective-C: Pros & Cons
Let's look at the benefits of Swift over the Objective-C programming language. These two languages are included in the top 20 most widely used programming languages in the world. 8.1% of all developers are specialized in Swift, while 7% are experienced in Objective-C.
Advantages of Objective-C over Swift in 2018
1- Objective-C is an approved, well-tested language
As it has already been said before, Objective-C is trustworthy and has been used and tested by many developers. There are a lot of projects written in Objective-C and there are many great third-party frameworks.
2- Objective-C is more stable
Since Swift is still developing as a language, its versions are regularly updated that's why applications written in Swift must be migrated to the newest version. As a result, it takes time and money. On the other hand, when an app is written in Objective-C, these operations are unnecessary.
3- Easier usage of private APIs
In cases where a specific custom solution is needed for the project (e.g. specific color change or integration), Objective-C is simpler to connect with private APIs. Since Swift is always developing, it is not stable and this may lead to some crashes from these sorts of connections.
4- Objective-C is easily compatible with C++
Since it has routes from a C language, products, having parts of C or C++ code, run smoothly. However, Swift is incompatible with the C++ language.
Downsides of Objective-C in 2018
1- Harder to learn
Objective-C is a distinct language which differs in syntax from other programming languages. Its memory management is more complex and has the legacy necessary to be understood by C and Smalltalk.
2- Less qualified Objective-C developers
It can be complicated to find a proper Objective-C developer. Their number is modestly decreasing as new developers are learning mostly Swift and others are switching from Objective-C to Swift.
Swift - New iOS Programming Language
Benefits of Using Swift
1- Swift is faster
Swift 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
Code in Swift more closely resembles English, making it easier to read and requiring less time to check the code. As well, in general, it requires far fewer lines of code for the same feature. Swift is easy to read by JavaScript, Java, Python, C#, and C++ programmers who are able to use it to some extent.
4- Swift has less code
Swift is a more compact language for programming. However, this fact doesn’t imply code simplicity, of course. At times, it can be very difficult to write, but it brings more benefits and is highly reusable.
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
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.
10- Swift is Apple’s ongoing focus
Apple Inc. is concentrating on evolving Swift as its core programming language.
Downsides to Using Swift
1- Slower compilation speed
Compilation (transforming source code into binary/ machinery code) speed is much slower in Swift projects.
2- No ABI stability
Another main issue with Swift lies in its ABI instability. ABI defines the communication rules for a machine code. This mostly matters in larger projects, when compiling part of the application with a few Swift versions. Therefore, in order to provide stable communication in a binary code of different compiler versions, ABI should be stable and well-structured. This can result in some problems with Swift frameworks across Swift versions.
3- Absence of C++ import
If your project is highly dependant on C++, Swift is not an iOS language that should be chosen for this task.
Follow this article to find out more about the differences between Swift and Objective-C and to discover what language is better for iOS development.