Various components are taken into account while developing an iOS mobile app, and choosing the right programming language is one of those vital factors. In this blog, we will walk you through the major benefits of choosing Swift for iOS app development.
Swift is a programming language launched by Apple Inc. in 2014, used for iOS development. iOS app developers find Swift programming language smarter because it is safe, fast, intuitive, and as expressive and enjoyable as a story writing. It allows developers to write safer and more reliable code to create appealing, user-friendly, and successful iOS applications.
Being advanced and more sophisticated than Objective-C, Swift facilitates a high-level of interactivity, cuts out all the possible errors, and serves the best launching point for any iOS app development. As of now, Swift has got 778 contributors committed 105,423 times in 338 branches with 1,583 releases on Github and counting.
Top 8 Advantages of Using Swift for iOS App Development
There is something for everyone in this programming language as Swift disappoints no one. So, this becomes a topic to discuss more in detail about how Swift is beneficial for developing iPhone apps. So, without any further adieu, let’s jump right in.
1. Safer Platform
In today’s world, where the data breach of websites or apps is common, it becomes significant to develop apps with the highest security. Swift eliminates various types of mistakes present in Objective-C, facilitates the compiling and fixing of errors while writing codes, which was missing in Objective-C. Choosing Swift is advantageous for your iOS app development as it is stable and more reliable that can help you win more customers’ trust.
2. Easy Code Readability
Being available in everyday language (plain English), Swift code is more expressive and much easier to understand, read, and write even by a non-coder. Swift drops many legacy conventions, such as semicolons to end lines, parentheses, and more, resulting in less enactment of code lines in Swift than Objective-C. The Swift code is more simple and clean compared to C/C++, hence makes it one of the preferred choices for developers.
3. Easy Code Maintenance
Easy-to-maintain code is one of the enticing advantages of choosing Swift over Objective-C. Swift is a lot easier to maintain as it doesn’t have dependencies like Objective-C. Where Objective-C is entirely dependent upon the evolution of the ‘C’ first, Swift, on the other hand, can keep the maintenance on radar by itself.
Also, where Objective-C requires manual syncing, Swift drops the need of two files and combines the header (.h) and implementation files (.m) of Objective-C into a single code.
4. Compatible with Objective-C
The best thing about using Swift is, it is compatible with Objective-C. iOS app developers can efficiently import the Objective-C framework and use its method using Swift code. So, put it simply, Swift with Objective-C has made it possible for iOS developers to write code in one language and use it in another.
5. Open-Source Community
Apple announced Swift to be an open-source community in 2015. Now, being an open-source language, Swift allows iOS developers to leverage various platforms, contribute to bug fixes, add new features, and more. Also, Apple can now receive feedback from the community itself to make persistent improvements as developers contribute to the success of this programming language.
6. Faster Development
Swift is proved to be much faster than any other programming language, a post on ‘10 thousand times faster Swift‘ by Maxim Zaks explains the speed of Swift in the best way possible. Apple reveals that the Swift programming language is 2.6x faster than Objective-C and 8.4x than Python 2.7.
All these expert opinions and researches state that Swift is arguably one of the fastest programming languages to choose over Objective-C for iPhone application development.
7. Backed with ‘Playgrounds’
Playgrounds is a feature that makes iOS development learning easy and exciting. The newbie developers can learn iOS app development on Swift without having an in-depth understanding of the Swift programming language. The ‘Playgrounds’ feature also allows developers to test the code without even creating an entire app, thus speeds up the development process and eases the job of iOS developers.
8. Dynamic Libraries Support
Dynamic libraries are basically feasible codes that link one version of the Swift app to different versions of the app. Dynamic libraries work on updating the apps in Swift and uploading the new version of code to the memory. Doing this cuts down the initial size of the app and makes it a high-performing app.
Summing Up
Objective-C and Swift are two main programming languages used for iOS app development. Though the launch of Swift changed it all, the internet is now flooded with ‘Swift vs Objective-C.’ With all the benefits discussed above, including being two times faster than Objective-C, Swift seems to be the clear choice for businesses.
Swift has the potential to develop a responsive, feature-rich, high-performing, and secured app. So, if you had ‘Why to choose Swift for iOS app development?’ in mind, you know the answer now. Don’t you?
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