Swift, Objective-C development

According to 2025 data, there are approximately 1.5 billion active iPhone users worldwide, making up around 19% of the global population. This indicates that iOS remains the second most popular mobile operating system in the world. 

Alongside this, over 1.5 million iOS developers are creating mobile applications, contributing to the growth of the Apple ecosystem using the Swift and Objective-C programming languages.

Objective-C is Apple’s original programming language for iOS and macOS app development, still commonly found in the codebase of legacy iOS applications. It is a powerful and flexible language, though more complex compared to Swift, which is now Apple’s modern, safe, and efficient programming language for iOS development.

The language was created in the early 1980s as an extension of the C programming language, enabling developers to take advantage of object-oriented programming (OOP) features. That is where its name, Objective-C, comes from.

Advantages of Objective-C

Thanks to Objective-C’s tight integration with the Apple ecosystem, many classic frameworks have been created, for example, Cocoa and Cocoa Touch, both of which are built on Objective-C.

• Objective-C allows dynamic message sending, meaning that certain actions in a program are determined at runtime. This gives the language great flexibility and adaptability.
• The language simplifies the organization, modularization, and maintenance of large applications, making the development process more structured and reliable.
• Objective-C is fully compatible with Swift, C, and C++ libraries, providing broad integration capabilities within mixed-language projects.
• Objective-C is particularly well-suited for maintaining and upgrading large or older systems, allowing developers to extend and modernize existing applications with ease.

Swift is a modern programming language developed by Apple in 2014 as a replacement for Objective-C. Like Objective-C, Swift is designed for building applications for iOS and other Apple platforms. It is fast, secure, easy to read, and user-friendly for both beginner and professional developers.

Advantages of Swift Programming

1. Speed and Performance: Swift is built on LLVM (Low-Level Virtual Machine) compilation technology, which ensures high execution speed and optimized performance. This allows applications to run quickly and efficiently, even under heavy workloads.
2. Strong Type Safety and Error Handling: Swift is designed with strict type safety and advanced error-handling mechanisms, significantly reducing the likelihood of bugs. This ensures that applications run more reliably and predictably.
3. Open Source: Swift is an open-source language, meaning it can be used not only within the Apple ecosystem but also on Linux and Windows platforms. This increases Swift’s flexibility and makes it accessible to a wider community of developers.
4. Modern, Simple, and Readable: Swift is a modern, clean, and easy-to-read language that continues to evolve rapidly. It fully meets the latest technological standards and industry trends.
5. High Efficiency: Swift is optimized for high performance, ensuring that it runs very fast, which is especially important for developing complex and resource-intensive applications.