Apple and the new programming language Swift


As a developer myself I am exited about this news. Apple just announced yesterday a new programming language named Swift which to my understanding in the long run will replace Objective-C. For me this is great news because Objective-C is kind of a hurdle to learn mostly because I’ve done so much development on C/C++, Java and C# languages that the syntax in Objective-C was a bit strange to me. I did some small apps a while ago but never really felt like this was easy. Anyway my preferences are my own thing :).

What is great about the new Swift language is that it is very VERY similar to C# or Java also. Taking a quick glance at the language guide and the syntax and functionality are very similar to those of C# and Java. Although Apple has chosen to use some rather strange notations and syntax naming in some part BUT compared to Objective-C it is great. I know this will lower my bar to making some new apps for the iOS environment.

For me as a developer this is a great news for two reasons:

1. I do not have to spent that much time learning Objective-C and avoiding mistakes that someone who already knows it knows to avoid.

2. And as the second reason it is time and cost effectiveness. IF I want to make an app for iOS now I can do it faster (based on what Apple says and what I’ve noticed). Also I do not have to buy third party tools like Xamarian to do the development faster in a language that is more familiar to me. Ofcourse using Xamarian you could theoretically deploy your application on multiple platforms BUT the license fees are rather big if you are a one man team or a small company with little or no real funds.

Anyways greats news from a developers perspective. Here are a couple of links to Swift:
Swift Language Guide

Apple Swift Developer Page

Well Time will tell what is Apple planning and how it will affect developers who are interested in Apple’s ecosystem.