Everyone who was into coding for apple products had to know about Objective-C as most of the apps that were running on the IPhones and MacBooks were made in Objective-C. Having said that Apple decided to change the coding language to something more up to date, which in 2014 happened.
The first update was the introduction of OS X Yosemite and IOS 8 along with the package of a new programming language that was named “Swift”. Which was entirely new to the developers. It had new syntax and features; it was a great update from apple.
It wasn’t an easy task to start coding with swift.
The WWDC 14 Training video sessions were useful to understand swift. As per the official update from apple, swift is a new programming language that they have said was faster and had better performance compared to objective c.
The first update was the introduction of OS X Yosemite and IOS 8 along with the package of a new programming language that was named “Swift”. Which was entirely new to the developers. It had new syntax and features; it was a great update from apple.
It wasn’t an easy task to start coding with swift.
The WWDC 14 Training video sessions were useful to understand swift. As per the official update from apple, swift is a new programming language that they have said was faster and had better performance compared to objective c.
Objective-C VS Swift
At first you wont be able to find a big difference between objective c and swift.
Objective-C, which has been used from the very beginning of IOS, holds a big importance and is quite popular. Simpler syntax and easy to understand feature makes it user-friendly. I was valuable and good but it lacked what some developers wanted.
One of the best features that swift provided was the removal of ‘NS’ from arrays and dictionaries which in turn makes swift comprehendible and is able to give a neater look and is easier to read through. Transitioning from objective c to swift is a smooth process. Apple was able to make the syntax similar and more familiar. It removed some prefixes and added suffixes to the existing ones.
Features such as providing a range of statements and switch functionality, type interface, closures, which are similar to blocks, generics in Objective-C. which can take up to any data type which some are beneficial in swift.
On the application’s side, the change that swift has brought in the 1 or 2 lines of code in swift compared to the long code in Objective-C. Swift is able to support Unicode characters (think of emojis), as variable names, which Objective-C cant do.
Apple considers Swift to be safe and modern and powerful coding language.
The Playground feature, which is present in Swift, allows the user to interact with the running application side by side which gives a other dynamic when your coding. Objective-C wasn’t able to do so.
At first you wont be able to find a big difference between objective c and swift.
Objective-C, which has been used from the very beginning of IOS, holds a big importance and is quite popular. Simpler syntax and easy to understand feature makes it user-friendly. I was valuable and good but it lacked what some developers wanted.
One of the best features that swift provided was the removal of ‘NS’ from arrays and dictionaries which in turn makes swift comprehendible and is able to give a neater look and is easier to read through. Transitioning from objective c to swift is a smooth process. Apple was able to make the syntax similar and more familiar. It removed some prefixes and added suffixes to the existing ones.
Features such as providing a range of statements and switch functionality, type interface, closures, which are similar to blocks, generics in Objective-C. which can take up to any data type which some are beneficial in swift.
On the application’s side, the change that swift has brought in the 1 or 2 lines of code in swift compared to the long code in Objective-C. Swift is able to support Unicode characters (think of emojis), as variable names, which Objective-C cant do.
Apple considers Swift to be safe and modern and powerful coding language.
The Playground feature, which is present in Swift, allows the user to interact with the running application side by side which gives a other dynamic when your coding. Objective-C wasn’t able to do so.
Should I start learning Objective-C or swift?
Almost all applications that are on the app store are still mostly written in Objective-C. As swift is only 2 years old it will take a few years for swift to gain importance in IOS applications although most of the applications are being converted to Swift.
If you decided to explore IOS, I would recommend having a basic to good knowledge about Objective-C and at the same time to gain good knowledge about Swift. As they go hand in hand as swift is not a strong language on its own just yet.
Almost all applications that are on the app store are still mostly written in Objective-C. As swift is only 2 years old it will take a few years for swift to gain importance in IOS applications although most of the applications are being converted to Swift.
If you decided to explore IOS, I would recommend having a basic to good knowledge about Objective-C and at the same time to gain good knowledge about Swift. As they go hand in hand as swift is not a strong language on its own just yet.
The Future?
Swift has become a open source which means that there a lot more options for IOS developers that could out do Objective-C by a large margin but yet some companies still use Objective-C along side swift.
Only time can tell if swift was a good change from Objective-C. As a coder swift has my preference as it’s easier to read and looks more organised and clean.
Swift has become a open source which means that there a lot more options for IOS developers that could out do Objective-C by a large margin but yet some companies still use Objective-C along side swift.
Only time can tell if swift was a good change from Objective-C. As a coder swift has my preference as it’s easier to read and looks more organised and clean.