Understanding The Role Swift Plays in Apple's OS

Since the introduction of Swift programming language in the WWDC 2014 session, Apple seems to be actively involved with the task of preaching the use of Swift. The recent statement given by the Vice President of Apple Andreas Wendker is a testament to the fact that the mobile industry giant is putting the focus on making users adopt Swift for their development projects. Andreas says:

“So, just as you can imagine, we're very excited about the new Swift language. We believe that this language will quickly gain wide acceptance for our own code as well as your mobile apps.”

No doubt, Swift has become one of the most popular programming languages for third-party developers. However, you may probably think what will happen to Apple’s own code? Well, with the release of iOS version 9.2, there's the only place you can find the use of Swift, i.e. in the “Calculator.app”. Andreas Wenker further said that “although he expected to locate many more other applications built using the Swift language, but unfortunately, this may not be the case.” In short, still several developers haven't adopted the use of Swift in their application development projects.

Of course, the Calculator.app is one of the “pure Swift” that comes with just two classes out of the available 22 classes – that are written in Objective-C. Another important thing to note is that just like the 3rd party applications based on Swift, even the Calculator.app is required to bundle the Swift libraries. Bear in mind, not even a single Swift library can be added to the operating system since ABI isn't stable as of yet.

However, if you are interested in building an iOS-enabled app using Swift, then you can search for Hire iPhone App Developer to get the job done efficiently. In short, to meet your varied needs, you should consider recruiting the services of an experienced app developer.

Recently, another announcement was made by the Platforms State of the Union, according to which the WWDC app will be updated, becoming the first app to make use of the Swift language.

Though the WWDC app is making use of the Swift language, but it may appear to you as different. Till now, out from the available 281 classes, just six are coded in Swift. However, the Apple app store itself is now utilizing Swift for its watch app.

Choosing Swift comes with certain tradeoffs, and Apple does not think that it is worth to develop all their apps or frameworks using the Swift language. However, this might change with the launch of iOS version 10.

Wrapping Up!

Whether to choose Swift for app development projects can be confusing for users. There are only a few apps available in the market that makes of this language. And so, it makes sense to familiarize yourself with the Swift programming language. But, you can't expect Swift to become a hit with almost all the users. But, the release of iOS10 may help you seek an answer to your question on whether you should consider using Swift for your projects or not.