When you aim to develop the perfect iOS app, one of the first things that you need to decide is the language that you will need for the project. In terms of native mobile app development for iOS, you basically get two choices: either use the good old Objective-C or go with the next-gen Swift.
Now, understanding the ideal programming language for iOS app development needs you to consider the features, differences, pros, and cons of both the options that you have on hand.
So, without further ado, let’s get right into the details of Swift vs. Objective-C.
The main features and characteristics of the languages
Objective-C
Way back in the 1980s, Brad Cox and Tom Love of the Stepstone Company came up with the programming language Objective-C, as the extension of C. It was released in the market in 1988, and the response it received was quite amazing. “Object-Oriented Programming: An Evolutionary Approach”: a book written by Brad Cox and Tom Love in the same year was instrumental in the success of this programming language.
Finally, during the late 1980s, NeXT Computer, Inc. acquired the license for Objective-C for developing the frameworks for ‘NeXTStep,’ which was again, picked up by Apple. Thus, Objective-C came up to be the standard in terms of iOS app development for many years.
Basically, two programming languages were brought together to create Objective-C, namely, Smalltalk and C. This is what makes it a language with an extensive, complex syntax. Smalltalk gives it the object syntax, and the non-object syntax comes from C.
Message passing and dynamic tapping are used by Objective-C. The code blocks of implementation and interface are also required in this case for dividing classes.
Swift
Swift is younger than Objective-C, as Apple began developing it in 2010 and it was released in the market four years after that. A year after that Swift was made open source. Swift goes way past C and Smalltalk and rather embraces the features of modern programming languages. So, here you will find type inference, optional, generics, and other such higher-order functions.
The speed of app development with both the languages
The features that a programming language comes with are crucial in ensuring that you get the speed of app development that you aim for. Swift is actually swifter than Objective-C when it comes to speed!
The use of higher-order functions and generics make the codes much more reusable and cleaner. Type inference and options also make sure that the codes are safe as they are being transferred to the compilator from the programmer.
Moreover, the syntax is highly concise and you don’t have to make two code blocks for implementation and class interface. So, the programmers don’t need to write codes as lengthy in Swift as they have to in the case of Objective-C. In addition to that, there is a general consensus among the developers that this factor alone gives Swift an edge over Objective-C. Read more...