Developing iOS apps in Swift
A young, powerful, and open-source general-purpose programming language. Officially introduced by Apple on June 2, 2014. It combines the best of C and Objective-C, but lacks the latter’s limitations imposed for the sake of C compatibility. Swift uses strict typing of objects, which reduces the number of errors at the stage of code writing. Swift also uses modern functions, such as generics, closures, multiple return values and much more to make creating an application more flexible and fun. The new programming language is based on the existing compiler, debugger, and frameworks.
Swift will seem familiar to Objective-C developers. It combines the readability of named parameters with the power of Objective-C’s dynamic object model.
Pros:
Speed. The language is now almost on par with C++, and Cupertino promises that’s not the limit;
simplified navigation through project files. Unlike Objective-C, which creates two files for declaration and implementation, Swift makes do with just one. In addition, method names and comments between files are synchronized automatically;
easy readability, because the language is not built in C. For example, there is no need to put a semicolon at the end of a line and no need to write parentheses to surround an expression inside an if/else. No square brackets, Swift resembles regular English, is much cleaner and has a simplified syntax;
brevity. The amount of code with Swift becomes much less. For example, you can use the “+” operator to add two lines;
more opportunities compared to Objective-C. For example, generics (universal patterns). Generic code allows you to write flexible, general-purpose, functions and types that can work with any other type. You can write code that is not repetitive and expresses its content in an abstract form;
full interoperability with code written in Objective-C, allowing you to use two languages simultaneously;
increased security. Swift, unlike Objective-C, is strictly typed, that is, when declaring named parameters you must explicitly specify the type of data, otherwise the compiler causes an error when executing the code. This will make it easier to fix bugs, because you can solve the problem right away;
support for dynamic libraries. One significant change in Swift is the shift from static libraries to dynamic libraries, which are essentially executable pieces of code. They attach to the application and “link” to new versions of the language, allowing the program to run stably.
Cons:
Swift is constantly evolving and changing. For example, method calls can change after an update. Fortunately, Apple has structured this process so that code written in earlier versions will not be broken. You just see a warning saying that your code is written in an older version, and the editor will offer to switch to the newer version and help you do the process line by line;
interacting with Objective-C files is done with a “bridge”, which greatly slows down the build process.