Is Swift Still the Best Programming Language for iOS Apps?

Although Android users have always been the dominant section of society, we cannot ignore iOS users since now, the number of users is increasing over time. Perhaps that’s why the average number of applications on the apple store for iOS is approximately 2.09 million as of 2020.

This is why developers need to develop more applications and software products for iOS also to meet the market demands.

Suppose you have planned to launch an iOS application. In that case, the first thing you need to understand is the need for a native programming language that can extend the inherent properties of the operating system. from an early age, the primary programming language used to develop iOS applications is Swift. While it is still prevalent in the development sector, there are certain factors for which developers have also adopted other languages as alternatives.

In this article, we will discuss the prevalence of Swift and if it is suitable for your project or not. With this guide, you can have clarity about which iOS app development company to hire.

What is the Swift programming language?

The Swift app development language is often considered a multi-paradigm programming language for developing iOS applications. Apple Inc. released this platform in 2014 to ensure developers can have a native platform to develop fast, highly efficient, and high-performing applications. It is also considered an alternative to the C programming language. Being open-source allows the developers to connect on the forum and communicate their ideas and opinions.

One of the best things about Swift is the presence of the source codes on GitHub. As a result, developers can easily access these codes to use Swift for developing iOS applications.

Features of Swift programming language

Before you hire the best iOS app development company, you should be aware of the main features of the Swift programming language. In the following section, we have illustrated the prime features of this platform that will further help you to decide if the language will be better for your project or not.

1. Powerful genetics
2. Error handling: Swift comes with built-in error handling mechanisms. From throwing the exception at the beginning of the method or function to catching the same and handling the errors within the code itself, this particular feature has given developers more competitive leverage to come up with the best and most innovative iOS applications.
3. Protocol extensions: With the help of Swift programming language, the behaviors of all variables and other such attributes can be declared in the protocols. Therefore, there is no need to declare global variables like other programming languages.
4. Structs and classes: Developers can easily define multiple structures in a class without using multiple files.
5. Debugging: Thanks to the integrated LLDB debugger, most mobile app development services concerned with iOS can easily integrate the debugging modules with the process services, evaluation of all logical and Boolean expressions, and recover failed codes.
6. Package manager: For cross-platform app development, you can use the Package Manager that integrates with the libraries.
7. Compatibility with source and binary code: Since Swift is compatible with binary and source codes, its libraries are found in all the latest versions of iOS and GitHub, respectively. Therefore, there is no need to import the packages and libraries separately from an external source.
8. Memory management: One of the critical features of Swift that makes it perfect for iPad app development is Automatic Reference Counting ARC. With this feature, the programming language can easily optimize the app’s memory consumption when actively used.
9. Enumerations: The Enums present in the Swift library allow matching the patterns and generating the payloads in XML form.
10. Closure syntax: Thanks to this feature, developers can easily make the syntax clean and less complicated.
11. Tuples: It allows the developers to create a variable that will collect multiple values of the same type and return the result as a single unit.

Advantages of using Swift language

There are several reasons why the best iOS app development company prefers to use Swift over other programming languages that support the native elements of the operating system. In this section below, we have listed some of the significant advantages that you will quickly enjoy without any hassle.

1. With the LLVM compiler, the Swift development language is relatively fast and ensures the developed application can deliver the best user experience quickly.
2. Swift comes with several APIs that you can incorporate with the code to make it error-free, modular, and clean.
3. The learning curve of Swift is pretty flat, ensuring you can quickly grab the concepts and use the syntaxes to come up with the best mobile iOS software.
4. From variable initialization and declaration to automatic memory management, Swift makes the code much more secure and safer. The developers don’t have to plan for an additional stability program.
5. Swift allows a single code to run the application across platforms other than iOS devices.

Challenges of Swift language

1. Swift programming language is new, and the source codes uploaded on GitHub are basic. It also does not have advanced features yet as they are still under development.
2. It is mainly used as a native programming language for developing iOS applications.

Conclusion

In this brief, we have shared the essential details about the Swift programming language. So, you can easily decide if it is suitable for your project or not. This way, you can hire the best Mobile app development company for the application you are planning to launch.