How is Swift better than Objective-C? Let’s Discuss

Start Whenever one plans to invest in iOS app development, the first conundrum they encounter with is - which programming language to opt?
For years, iOS app developers were flocking to Objective-C to dig out gold from their iOS apps. However, Apple introduced Swift nearly 4 years ago, which sooner gained momentum in the Apple world - pushing its ancestor language from the limelight.
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And this can be easily determined by the recent report shared by RedMonk which states that the Swift is now sharing the 10th ranking with Objective-C in the list of Top 10 Programming Languages.

This kind of popularity of newer iOS application development languages has taken the community to a surprise, outcome of which is that nearly 77.6% iOS developers prefer Swift over Objective-C for their future iOS applications, as recorded in a Stack Overflow survey.

Despite these facts, if you are dying to know what makes Swift better than Objective-C from a developer’s point of view, here’s a comparative study proving Swift has already won the battle of Swift vs Objective C for iOS app development:

Swift vs Objective-C: How Swift is a Better Option for iOS App Development

Swift offers higher readability than Objective-C

If you are already an iOS app developer, you will be familiar with the pain of working with Objective-C. The iOS development language has all the blemishes you could ever imagine from a language built on C. For example, Objective-C declared using @ symbol with all the new keywords to differentiate them from the keywords and types used in C. this often complicate the developers. However, Swift has no such issue. Since it is not a strict subset of C, it empowers you to unify all the keywords without adding @ symbols in front of all the object-related keywords.
And on the top of all, the code written in Swift resembles much to that of natural English and various other new programming languages which makes it easier for a programmer working with Java, C++, Python, C# or JavaScript to easily add the badge of Swift development into their portfolio.

Swift has lesser code length than Objective-C

Swift shoved off the legacy conventions, giving developers an escape from inserting semicolons at the end of each line, parenthesis in case of conditional expressions, and working with nested method calls. Not only this, the Swift has also facilitated the programmers to easily combine two or more strings with a ‘+’ operator instead of writing a whole code.
This, as a whole, has not only simplified the development code but also reduced the code length and added a pinch of comfort to the iOS app developers.
The most overwhelming example is Lyft app. When it was rewritten in Swift from scratch, the app code narrowed down from 75,000 lines to 25,000 - which implies 2/3rd efforts of the hired iOS app developers were saved without compromising on the performance factor.

Swift Code is easy to maintain

As Objective-C is backed by C programming language, it cannot roll out any ‘out of the box’ strategies and functions till C supports them. As a result, the Objective-C app developers have to keep two code files to enhance the build time and code efficiency. This repetitive task of maintaining two different files distracts the iOS app developers from the bigger picture, making them engrossed in this tedious, repetitive task of maintaining two code files manually.
This is not the case of Swift. The new Apple development language has ditched the two-file maintenance process, combining the Objective-C header (.h) files and implementation files (.m) into a single code file (.swift). This way, the Swift enabled the iOS app developers to cut down the efforts and time required in the repetitive task of maintaining two different code files and focus more on the app logic part. In other words, Swift helps the app developers to bring out more innovative apps.

Swift supports dynamic libraries

The most significant thing noticed in case of Swift iOS app development language is a shift from static to dynamic libraries. For those not familiar with what dynamic libraries stand for, these are basically a set of executable code that, when linked with an existing Swift app, make it easier to adopt newer versions of the Swift language.

By drifting from Static libraries to Dynamic libraries, the Apple has encouraged the iOS application developers to develop an app with lesser size in the beginning and adding more features to it with time.

Swift offers better memory management options

In case of Objective-C, the ARC (Automatic Reference Counting) is supportable only in case of Cocoa APIs and object-oriented code, and not for C code and APIs such as Core Graphics. This indicates that it is solely the responsibility of the iOS app coder to deal with memory management when working with unsupportable APIs. This often leads to significant memory leaks.

However, this is not in the case of Swift language as ARC handles all the memory management tasks at the compile time - making the developers free enough to focus on more creative things. Additionally, since ARC supports both the procedural and object-oriented code in Swift app development, the application developer need not worry about switching from high-level to lower-level APIs.

Swift code is faster

Swift, also called ‘Objective-C without C’, has cherry-picked the features of its ancestor iOS programming language to make the complete process of creating a mobile application smoother and faster. According to the top iOS developers, Objective-C is able to run a multifacet object sort 2.8x faster than its Python equivalent, whereas Swift can run 3.9x times faster.

In addition to this, the new Apple language made it possible for the iPhone application developers to execute only changed codes which eventually increases the speed of the execution process.

Swift is far more safe and secure

Swift, by leaving the legacy and making the code interactive, has ruled out various mistakes that are possible to commit while working with Objective-C. This has lessened the app crashes and scenarios of problematic behaviour.

Besides, the Swift accepts the nil code and evokes compile error which has raised the quality level of codes, making it necessary for the programmers to stop playing the bad code game. Also, it has made it possible for the developers to handle all the things associated with their mobile application, including certificates, trust policies, authorization services, etc. This makes Swift supersede Objective-C in the market.

Swift code yield higher productivity

One of the biggest advantages of Swift over iOS is playgrounds. These playgrounds, inspired by Apple employee Brett Victor, empowers the iOS app coders to write a chunk of code or you can say, an algorithm and test it individually for accessing feedbacks - you need not develop a complete iOS application for the same. This way, it amplifies the overall iOS app development speed by making it easier for iPhone application developers to work with data visualizations in the playground.

In other words, this feature helps the Apple developers to test each set of code without putting efforts into designing a complete mobile application, which fuels their creativity and productivity and turns the boring coding to the fun.

Swift code is interoperable

The Swift might work on a different paradigm, but you can use Objective-C APIs while writing a Swift code. An advantage of this feature is that you can easily convert your complete Objective-C app into a Swift app.

Swift has a proper format for namespaces

Objective-C lacks proper format for namespaces because of which an Apple developer has to add a two- or three-letter prefix to differentiate the Objective-C from that of an open-source code. Swift, by providing implicit namespaces, empowered the programmers to employ same code file existing across multiple projects without using any prefix or opting any other option. This enables two companies to use same code filenames without bothering about name collisions.

Besides, the namespaces in case of Swift app development are based on the target that a particular code belongs to. This signifies the programmer can easily distinguish classes or values based upon the namespace identifier. As a result, the iOS app developers find easier to incorporate open-source libraries, frameworks, and projects into their code and provide better services.

Swift has a promising future

Let’s be honest. Although Objective-C is not going to extinct, we won’t see any major update in this Apple language that could make us jump on our seat. Whereas Swift, which is still in its budding stage, has a lot more surprises to reveal. We have just touched the Swift 4.1 version, many more are yet to come. Besides, the Swift is open-source which implies Apple can easily get feedback from the community and improve Swift making it a bigger success.

As described in the aforementioned pointers, Swift has come up with numerous changes that make it a winner in the Swift vs Objective-C war. So, if you are planning for iOS app development, it is advisable to go with Swift programming language and earn higher ROI.