Swift vs. Objective C

If we talk about iOS development, there are two possibilities:

  1. Objective-C
  2. Swift

Here, we compare both languages and see what are the differences between them? What are the advantages and disadvantages of both and which one is better to deploy your project?


Objective C

Objective C is a programming language created by the Stepstone Company in the early 1980s. It was released to the public in 1988. It was licensed by NeXT Computer, Inc. to develop the NeXTStep frameworks and finally acquired by Apple. It became the standard for many years for iOS apps development.

Objective C was influenced by two languages i.e. C and Smalltalk and this is the reason why it has a complicated syntax. Objective-C uses dynamic typing and message passing.

Advantages (Pros) of Objective C

  • Objective C is well tested language because it has existed from many years. There is a lot of code written in Objective C. It has many well-documented, third-party frameworks.
  • Objective C is compatible to C and C++ programming language. As Objective C is a superset of C thus, the code of C and C++ runs smoothly on this.
  • Objective C is stable. You don't need to spend money on migrating if you have developed your app on Objective C.

Disadvantages (Cons) of Objective C

  • Objective C is hard to learn because its syntax is complicated. It is different from many other popular programming languages that's way Swift is preferred over it.
  • A lower number of developers are interested to learn Swift because it is hard to learn.
  • Objective C is not as secure as Swift. An app developed with Objective C is more prone to hack than Swift.

Swift

Swift is relatively a new language. Apple started to work on Swift in 2010 and it is first released to public in 2014. It has become open source in 2015. Swift follows the features of modern programming languages so, it is easier to learn.

Advantages (Pros) of Swift

  • Swift is safe. Swift has some features like generics, optional, type inference which make its apps less prone to errors.
  • Apple is fully focused on Swift development so, it has a bright future.
  • Swift is one of the most preferred programming languages while Objective C is a degrading one.
  • Apps development in Swift is faster than in Objective C.

Disadvantages (Cons) of Swift

  • The only one disadvantage of Swift app development is that it is not stable. You may get its upcoming versions and app changes and migration is not an easy task.





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