text: Q:
  
  Will Objective C be necessary for new iOS/OSX releases?
  
  I was always frightened by Objective C syntax with all its *, -(), [[]] and so on. Now I am looking at Swift and from my JavaScript background as a frontend developer, I really like its elegance and clear-looking constructions. So, I wonder, do I really need to learn both Objective C (at least basics) and Swift to build apps for new iOS/OSX versions that are coming this fall?
  Is there anything I won't be able to do with only Swift? Does Swift have as much access to the API and OS functionality as Objective C does? So, if I don't need to support current Objective C codebase, do I still need it in a real work or can I do all the same things with Swift?
  
  A:
  
  Of course, this depends very much on what you are planning to do. But I think there are a some points you should consider:
  Performance
  According to this SO question the performance is not as good as Apple promised (yet). But if you care about high performance, you should wonder if Objective-C is your way to go. 
  C++ Code
  Very important is the fact, that you cannot use C++ code in your Swift code without having a Objective-C(++) wrapper:
  
  You cannot import C++ code directly into Swift. Instead, create an
    Objective-C or C wrapper for C++ code.
  
  from the Apple Swift Documentation.
  Platform
  Swift uses the same runtime as the existing Objective-C system and the idea of Automatic Reference Counting. So in my humble opinion a basic knowledge of Objective-C and the ideas behind helps to write better and more performant Swift code.  
  Existing Work
  It will take some time that all frameworks, methods, classes, etc. have a pure Swift interface. Almost every demo project from Apple is written in Objective-C, too.
  Conclusion
  So I think, you will need some basic Objective-C knowledge in the future - maybe this changes over time. But it depends very much on what you are planing to do.
  
  A:
  
  Learning either ObjC or Swift is not the hard part. Work through your fear: it only indicates new things to learn!
  Swift is also very much not like Javascript. Don't be fooled by its surface appearance (in fact, avoiding focusing on surface appearance in general is a pretty good plan).
  To answer the question though: I would expect it to be a few more years before you won't get a significant benefit from knowing ObjC; there's a LOT of existing code, examples, docs, etc... all in ObjC. But there's little to nothing in the system APIs that will require it once Swift 1.0 is actually out.
  
  