Programming in Swift: Benefits of This Popular Coding Language

Swift is a clean and concise language that is also growing fast and gaining popularity. Initially developed only for native iOS development, programmers also use Swift to write safe, concise, and easy-to-use code for operating systems like Windows and Linux.

Apple created Swift, an open-source programming language, as a replacement for all languages based on C, including Objective C, C++, and C. The language was created in 2014 and released to the public as an open-source project in 2015 on Swift.org.

In just a short time, Swift climbed to the 20th most commonly used programming language worldwide [1]. 

Can you program in Swift on Windows?

Before diving deeper into Swift, let's examine compatible programming environments. Swift is available on Windows and Linux in addition to macOS. As a result, you don't need a Mac to learn Swift. However, you will need a Mac to create iOS applications because you'll need to use Xcode.

Features of Swift

Programming in Swift is safe, fast, and relatively easy to use compared to older, more established languages like Objective-C. Other reasons to learn to program in Swift are the intuitive nature of the language and the tight-knit community built around the language. Learning programming in Swift tends to be more accessible than other languages, and you'll find more tools for learning the language. Consider the following features of the Swift programming language:

• Automatic Reference Counting (ARC): Swift employs Automatic Reference Counting (ARC) to monitor and manage the memory usage of applications. The ARC automatically deallocates memory used by class instances when they are no longer in use.

• Closures unified with function pointers: Function pointers store the address of a specific function, allowing them to point to executable code rather than data. When using a function pointer, you signify a particular behaviour by calling the function instead of writing code. Closures contain these function pointers. Swift’s nested functions unify closures with function pointers, allowing closures to take values from the functions they enclose. 

• Tuples and multiple return values: In Swift, you can return multiple values from a function as opposed to only one value. Other C languages allow you to return multiple values using pointers, structures, or arrays. But Swift allows you to return multiple values from functions using tuples, returned as a single entity from a function. Tuples are unchangeable or fixed sets of elements arranged in an ordered sequence. 

• Generics: Generics help find errors in code by enabling the use of types as parameters. Generics in Swift allows users to write functions and types that are reusable and can work with any type in relation to the requirements you define. 

• Fast and concise iteration over a range or collection: Swift provides a simple way to loop over all elements in an array. An array is a collection of similar elements grouped together for easier referencing and indexing. Since Swift already knows what kind of data your array holds, it can quickly and efficiently run blocks of code by assigning every element in an array a constant that you name.

• Structs that support methods, extensions, and protocols: You’ll find that when creating, naming, and using structs within Swift, you have the ability to add additional functionality using extensions, including the option to extend types even if you lack access to the original code source.

• Functional programming patterns: This function takes in an array and repeatedly computes a value, creating a pattern that returns to the code which called for that action.

• Powerful error handling built-in: Error handling is when you determine what happens when an error occurs, for example when someone inputs a wrong password to a login. You have four ways to handle errors in Swift: Throwing, catching, propagating, and manipulating recoverable errors at runtime.

• Advanced control flow with do, guard, defer, and repeat keywords: To control the flow of how a program runs, Swift uses control flow statements. A few different types of control flow statements include control transfer statements, loop statements, and branch statements. You can access more advanced control flow features with Swift’s do statement to introduce scope, guard to manage errors, defer statement to run clean up actions, and repeat to allow for a block of code to run more than once, depending upon conditions.

Advantages of Swift programming

Swift is designed to be a safe, easy-to-use alternative to the more well-established Objective-C. As a result, programming in Swift offers a range of benefits:

Safety

Specifically designed to be safer than C-based languages, Swift eliminates entire classes of unsafe code as a preventative measure and allows for “cleaner” code with fewer runtime crashes.

With Swift, you can initialise variables with checks before use, prevent overflow in arrays and integers, and automatically manage memory. Developers can also easily see any code errors, reducing the time spent on debugging and removing the risk of low-quality code.

Speed

Swift uses LLVM as its compiler framework, which translates the assembly language to the machine code and optimises it. This means you use less code than you would with Objective-C, making development faster. Using Swift on both the back and front end of an app, for example, allows for extensive code sharing and reuse, speeding up the development process and reducing development efforts. 

Cross-Platform

Use open-source Swift across major platforms like Windows and Linux. This makes the language particularly ideal for mobile developers. Whilst Swift runs across other platforms, keep in mind you’ll need cross-platform programs like Sublime Text or Atom. 

Intuitive

Swift is a programming language built to be incredibly user-friendly. From concise syntax to inferred type, code written in Swift is simpler. 

Accessible

Swift is a widely available, free programming language. As an open-source language, you’ll find third-party tools, help when you need it, and a knowledgeable community of like-minded users to help you learn Swift. 

Objective-C interoperability

Create an entirely new application with Swift, or begin using Swift code to implement new features and functionality in your app. Swift code co-exists alongside existing Objective-C files in the same project, with full access to your Objective-C API, making it easy to adopt.

Disadvantages of Swift programming

Although programming in Swift offers many advantages, it also has some drawbacks to consider:

Smaller community

Despite its popularity, only 4.9 per cent of professional developers use Swift [2]. The rise of smartphone users in India and the demand for mobile applications globally are encouraging signs that this programming language may be gaining traction. However, current programming trends and usage patterns reveal that Swift remains a less popular programming language.

Misperception as “Apple only language”

Some people believe Swift is an iOS/Apple/Mac language because of the smaller community and features designed for use with Apple products. 

This misperception could be because Swift is a compiled rather than technical language as to why more programmers are a bit more hesitant to cross over to Swift completely. As a result, it's not yet a widely adopted language in the developer community. 

Newer language

Swift may not be as developed or as supported as older languages, leaving some new to the language needing some additional resources. Programmers with a background in traditional languages like Objective-C may encounter a learning curve.

This disadvantage also makes it more challenging if working with older versions since Swift only supports iOS 11.0 and macOS 10.13 or higher. 

Not a reflective language

Since Swift is a statically typed language, it can take an object and self-describe it, but it can’t manipulate it from within. Swift has mirroring functionality to compensate for this downfall, but many programmers argue that it’s not the same.

What salary can a Swift programmer expect?

The average base salary for an iOS developer working in India is  ₹7,95,000 a year, according to Glassdoor [3].    

Factors that may affect your annual base salary as an iOS developer are years of experience, location, and skill level. 

Get started learning Swift today with Coursera

You’ll find many free and easy-to-use resources to help you learn programming in Swift within a few months, like the Swift Mentorship Program or Swift Playground app. Being an open-source language is also helpful to amateurs just getting their start with this language.

Another route is enrolling in a course specifically designed for someone who wants to learn more about Swift.

Enroll in an online course like those offered on Coursera, such as Introduction to Swift Programming offered by the University of Toronto or Introduction to iOS App Development with Swift 5 offered by LearnQuest.