Overview
This lecture introduces the two main iOS programming languages, Objective-C and Swift, and explains why Swift is now preferred for iOS development.
iOS Programming Languages
- Objective-C and Swift are the primary programming languages for iOS development.
- Objective-C was created by Brad Cox and Tom Love in the early 1980s.
- Objective-C was the sole supported language for iOS until the introduction of Swift.
Introduction to Swift
- Swift was introduced by Apple in 2014 as a modern programming language for iOS.
- Swift is general-purpose and multi-paradigm, supporting object-oriented and functional programming.
- Swift is now officially supported in Xcode, Apple's development environment.
Benefits of Using Swift
- Swift is almost three times faster than Objective-C and over eight times faster than Python.
- Swift code is scalable, making it easy to modify and maintain applications.
- Apple is expected to provide more long-term support for Swift than for Objective-C.
- Swift's strong typing system and error handling features make it safer, reducing crashes and production errors.
Key Terms & Definitions
- Objective-C — An early programming language for iOS, object-oriented, created in the 1980s.
- Swift — A modern, fast, general-purpose programming language for iOS introduced by Apple in 2014.
- Multi-paradigm — Supports more than one programming paradigm, such as object-oriented and functional programming.
- Xcode — Apple's integrated development environment (IDE) for creating iOS and macOS applications.
Action Items / Next Steps
- Prepare to use Swift for upcoming course projects.
- Review Swift basics if unfamiliar with the language.