Objective C vs. Swift: A Comprehensive Comparison for Developers

I hear this question all of the time when I’m consulting with developers.

Should I be using Objective-C or Swift?

Swift vs. Objective C–It’s a common dilemma for developers. If you start asking around in the industry, you’ll hear different responses depending on who you ask.

One person may have had a bad experience with one of these programming languages, so they always steer clear of the other one.

On the flip side, some people just go with whichever language they learned first or feel more comfortable with. Everyone has their favorite.

The reality is that there isn’t always a clear choice.

Here’s a quick glance at some of the key highlights for each programming language.

Choosing your language for a project depends on lots of different factors. So I can’t sit here and decisively recommend one over the other.

But what I can do is explain some different circumstances where one may be more appropriate.

This doesn’t necessarily make it better. It just means that it will work best for that particular scenario.

I made this guide to give you some direction so you can make an informed decision for yourself.

What is Objective-C?

Objective-C is the main programming language for Apple OS X and iOS.

It’s by far the oldest of these two programming languages, and it was first introduced in 1984.

According to Apple, this language offers object-oriented capabilities as well as a dynamic runtime.

Using Objective-C means that you’ll get language-level support for your object literals and object graph management.

Objects are a huge component for building iOS and OS X applications. Cocoa or Cocoa Touch will provide you with some of these objects and classes.

The objects are part of the Objective-C classes, especially when they represent values.

Getting familiar with Xcode is a prerequisite to using Objective-C since that’s the integrated development environment (IDE) you’ll be building in.

If you’ve never used Objective-C, but you’re familiar with other C-based programming languages such as C# (used by Microsoft) or Java (used by Android), then it shouldn’t be as difficult for you to learn.

For those of you with extensive knowledge of other advanced object-oriented programming languages such as Ruby or Python, you won’t have trouble learning Objective-C either.

There are lots of established coding rules that you need to follow when you’re writing code in Objective-C.

For example, capitalization matters when you’re writing commands, especially for multiple words, which is referred to as camel case.

Objective-C isn’t perfect and has some problems with ARC (automatic reference counting) supported with Cocoa API and object oriented code. This can lead to memory leaks.

What is Swift?

Swift is a brand new programming language developed by Apple.

It was first released back in June 2014, so iOS developers are still getting used to it. Apple created Swift to work with both Cocoa and Cocoa Touch.

This language works for macOS, iOS, watchOS, and tvOS.

The basic concepts of Swift are similar to Objective-C at its core, such as the extensible programming, dynamic dispatch, and late binding.

But Swift code stands apart in terms of its ability to catch software bugs. It also addresses things like null pointers, which are common programming errors. It’s worth noting that Swift supports dynamic libraries.

So how does it stack up when it comes to performance compared to Objective-C?

When Apple introduced Swift 2.0 at the Apple Worldwide Developer conference in 2015, they presented this information.

With such a significantly higher program speed than Objective-C, Swift has to be the clear favorite in terms of developer preference, right?

I won’t get into that just yet. We’ll talk about that a little later on.

Swift is an open source language. So it was built by both Apple developers as well as outside contributors.

Even in these early years of Swift’s release, it can already support Linux in addition to all of Apple’s platforms.

I briefly mentioned classes in their relationship to objects earlier during the overview of Objective-C. Well, Swift eliminates lots of classes that are perceived as unsafe code.

By default, Swift objects can never be nil. As a result, it’s a safe and clean way for you to write code. Ultimately this will prevent a large number of crashes.

Swift has a unique feature that is called optionals. With optionals, there are certain instances where nil would be valid, but the syntax makes you deal with it a way that’s safe and easy to comprehend.

Another benefit of the Swift syntax is that you can define your intent easily with keywords that are only three characters long.

This will save you time coding in the long run. Ultimately, the language features of Swift can really help improve the experience with iOS app development.

Experience and familiarity

When it comes down to deciding which one you should use over another, I always recommend starting with what you have the most experience with.

If you’ve been writing Objective-C language for the last five or ten years and never used Swift, there’s no reason to start right now unless you’re being forced to. If you’re familiar with other object oriented programming languages and object oriented syntax, Objective-C will be easier for you.

Sure, the day may come where you’ll have to learn or want to learn another language. But if you’ve got lots of projects in your queue, it’s better to just go with what you know best.

On the other hand, if you’re new to the industry, you may have learned Swift before you learned Objective-C.

Again, if that’s what you’re comfortable with, then go with it.

With that said, depending on your clients, they may request one language over another. If that’s the case, then obviously you’ll need to follow those instructions.

But don’t worry. Learning a new programming language isn’t difficult, it’s just different.

This is especially true if you’ve been using Objective-C and now you’re attempting to learn Swift.

It might be a little bit more challenging for those of you that are going to write Objective-C for the first time after only using Swift.

Something else to consider is how much experience and familiarity your team has with these programming languages.

Take a look at which programming languages mobile developers like the most.

As you can see, Objective-C is more popular than Swift, but only marginally. That’s incredible for a language that’s so new. I would imagine that Swift’s popularity will continue to rise in the coming years.

But let’s say for example you’re working as part of a four person development team.

You’ve only been a developer for a couple of years, so you’re more familiar with Swift. But if everyone else on your team likes Objective-C, it makes more sense to use that for your project.

It’s easier for one person to learn a new language than for three people to learn a new language, so you’ll have to be a team player here and make the adjustment.

If you really want to learn another language but don’t have a reason to, consider using the one you’re less familiar with for a prototype.

This will help you get your feet wet without delaying or impacting a full scale project.

Size of your projects

Does size matter? In terms of your programming language, yes.

For small projects, you can use whichever on

Conclusion

So, back to the initial question, which one is better?

Aspect	Objective-C	Swift
Popularity	Older and more popular	New, but gaining popularity fast
Learning Curve	More difficult to learn	Easier to learn
Project Suitability	Better for large projects	Not the best choice for large projects
Safety	Perceived as less safe	Perceived as a safer option

There are certain circumstances where you may lean towards one language over the other based on your experience, your team’s familiarity, or the size and timeline of your project.

Don’t forget to weigh out the pros and cons of your tooling support, stability, runtime, and APIs.

All of these elements need to be taken into consideration when you’re deciding which language to go with.

Regardless of what you decide, I think that Swift is the programming language of the future. So if you haven’t learned it yet, see if you can find the time to figure it out soon.

Which programming language are you planning to use for your next project?