How is Swift Different from Objective-C?

Swift is easy to learn and much easier to use than Objective-C, which is often seen as a barrier to newbie coders because of its complicated syntax.

For instance, to show what we mean we’re going to compare lines of code in both languages. We’ll use the process to initialize an array as an example.

In Objective-C, to initialize an array you must enter the following:

NSMutableArray * array =[[NSMutableArray alloc] init];

Performing the same function in Swift is much easier. It only requires this line of code:

var array =[Int]()

You can do a lot more with a lot less in Swift, which is why it’s better for everyone.

Of course, there are a bunch of other differences between the two languages that are worth mentioning.

Swift versus Objective-C

Since Apple created Swift as an alternative to Objective-C, we’re simply going to talk about what it does better.

• Swift is much easier to read, because it does not require legacy conventions, and closely resembles the natural English language.
• Swift is much easier to maintain over time because it does not use a two-file system like Objective-C.
• Swift is safer, and it has built-in error-handling tools.
• Memory management is a thing of the past with Swift because it automatically handles the necessary processes.
• You can write a program much faster in Swift because it requires less code to get things done.
• Swift and C++ are on par in terms of speed and performance, which means that Swift is much faster than Objective-C.
• Objective-C lacks formal support for namespaces, and Swift does not.
• Therefore, there are fewer name collisions with open source projects in Swift.
• Swift includes support for dynamic libraries and is much more extensible.

Next, we’re going to take a loot at how to set up the Swift development environment.

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