The Swift way

When it comes to iOS app development, many believe that Swift is the way to go, mainly because it is simple to use and offers a feature-packed goodie bag. In this post, Mehul Rajput, CEO at Mindinventory, explains why developers should embrace Swift.

Swift has been slowly making its way to the top of developer preferences ever since it was first launched and introduced to the iOS community as a fresh new alternative to the means of coding available at the time. Needless to say, the choice was easy and a large mass of developers has embraced Swift over any other solution available.

Today, many are looking to switch over as well but are a bit unsure of why Swift is the right choice for them. In this article, we will be looking at how Swift makes things easier and boosts efficiency for iOS developers.

Apple’s house, Apple’s rules

Apple hasn’t instated any obligation towards developers to adopt Swift “or else”. Nor has it issued any kind of deadline that would “encourage” developers to give Swift a try. But Apple does, however, offer priority and preferential treatment to those that have adopted Swift and is playing by Apple’s rules, so to speak.

Coding made easy

Coding can never be considered an easy task, or at least not in the true sense of the word. However, there are considerable improvements that you can notice when looking for an app that was built with Swift and one that wasn’t. For example, let’s take Lyft, a company that works similarly to the more worldwide infamous service Uber. Lyft operates in the United States and has its own app, as you would expect.

Since the launch of Swift, Lyft has completely rewritten its app in Swift and the difference in lines of code is just baffling. The app went down from 75000 lines of code to just 25000, which is quite a bit.

You will forget how it feels to mess it up

Swift isn’t a “do it all” magic tool that will completely nullify any chance of you making a mistake. But it will, however, ensure that you don’t make them as often due to the way that the programming language is built. In contrast to Objective-C for example, Swift iOS apps will feature a different syntax that won’t raise the possibility of making the same type of errors. While it doesn’t make your app completely human-proof, it will give your app a big advantage in that you won’t spend as much time cleaning after yourself.

SEE ALSO: 3 reasons to use Swift for iOS/OS X app development

Open source always sounds good

Objective-C is not open source and thus comes with its strict set of limitations in terms of portability and accessibility. On the other hand, Swift is open source and encounters no such dilemma. Thanks to the fact that it is an open source platform, Swift will allow iOS developers to easily port over to various platforms and not have to boggle down with compatibility issues.

Checking stuff as you go

One of the biggest assets that Swift could hold over any competitor is the fact that it comes with interactive features like Swift Playground which totally change the game. On other programming language platforms, you would have to develop the whole app, or at least a very big chunk of the thing if you were to test out a specific feature which interested you. With Swift, you can easily and instantly make sure that the specific element you are uncertain about works fine by using Swift Playground.

Not only can you check up on it, but you can also correct whatever it is that should not be. No hassle, no extra work required, just straight to correcting and moving on with the project. This is something you can continuously do along the way until the very end of the app development process, making it even less prone to errors.

Speed is important and the name “Swift” says it all

Swift isn’t named Swift by mistake or because it sounds nice. The platform is actually one of the fastest ACA (Algorithm Calculation Arithmetic) currently available. The number one spot is currently in the possession of C++. But it is reported that Swift is breathing down its neck and is expected to be a worthy challenger to the throne.

Conclusion

You have plenty of reasons to switch over to Swift. One other factor should be the flow of the industry. More than that, it is a factor that shouldn’t be taken lightly because it can shape how the industry evolves and what the current direction is in the iOS developer community. Distancing yourself from what everyone is aiming towards will put you in a less favorable position overall, which can be highly detrimental.