Over the years, app development has evolved in various ways, it is clear that each has its loyal users and detractors, who have dominated the mobile market with intensity.

With the growing popularity of smartphones and app users, companies are constantly thinking about how to maximize their revenue and profits.

If you decide to create your app, the most important decision you need to make is which technology pillar you will use.

Are you designing native apps, cross-platform apps or hybrid apps? And if you choose native development, which language to choose?

To answer this, Swift has revolutionized the way apps are created by making what was thought to be impossible possible, as it is a very popular programming language in the development community, fast and efficient.

Let’s find out why Swift as a programming language is so important in native application development. But first we need to know what native application development is.

¿What is native application development?

The term “native app development” refers to the creation of mobile applications designed specifically for a single platform. Native mobile apps, unlike websites, do not run in a browser and are typically sourced through platform-specific app stores, the Apple Store or Google Play.

¿What is Swift?

It is a programming language developed by Apple in 2014 to work across the entire Apple ecosystem: iOS apps, iPadOS, macOS, tvOS…

It is a cooperative group, founded in Brussels in 1973, that helped create a common language for financial transactions, a shared data processing system and a global telecommunications network.

Swift

• It is free and open source.
• It provides security and protection. 
• Expressive: It contains a very good syntax to use, with the modern capabilities demanded by developers. 
• In demand: It occupies the most relevant positions among the most popular programming languages.

Benefits of native application development with swift

Let’s list some of the benefits;

The development process is fast and simplified.

Swift makes coding easy. It doesn’t require you to use sophisticated syntax and instead borrows from modern languages like Python and Ruby. This simplicity contributes to the overall speed of development. Swift is easier to read and write in a language with a clean, expressive syntax. Compared to Objective-C, it is more concise and precise, so less code is required to achieve the same goal. ARC (automatic reference counting) automates the process of tracking and managing an application’s memory usage.Swift is 2.6 times faster than Objective-C and 8.4 times faster than Python, according to Apple’s official source identifying cost-cutting initiatives.

Effective memory and management

Swift provides dynamic libraries, this is a great advantage for many reasons, dynamic libraries are better than static libraries, dynamic libraries are loaded directly into memory, as a result, this drastically reduces the initial size of the application and greatly improves its performance. This will help reduce the overall size, as standard SWIft libraries are included with all macOS, iOS, tvOS and watchOS (OMG) modules.

In addition, Swift uses ARC based on its Objective-C predecessor. ARC determines which class instances are not used and removes them from developer workspaces. Efficiently manage CPU or memory allocation when developing an application. 

This breakthrough also led to the release of the Application Binary Interface (ABI). As a result, Apple can support Swift on all of its platforms, applications built on Swift take less time to install and consume less memory on the device, giving users a better application experience.

Compatibility with Objective-C

It is possible to write development projects in Objective-C or Swift because they are interoperable, according to data, Objective-C developers can earn twice as much as one who develops only in Swift, however both languages are fully backwards compatible and can be used in one project. This is especially useful for those giant projects that have been in development for some time, if new features need to be updated, they should be written in Swift and then the Xcode compiler will integrate them into the Objective-C core.

Easy to maintain

Swift is easier to maintain than Objective-C and this is one of the main reasons why developers prefer it for iOS app development. Swift combines the Objective-C header (.h) and implementation files (.m) into one program file (.swift), unlike Objective-C, which is managed by two separate files. This gives developers more time to develop application logic and improve the quality of the code so that it runs smoothly. It eliminates the need to manually synchronize the method name and comment between files, which is one of the main disadvantages associated with Objective-C. As such, Swift has no dependencies, which makes it easy to maintain while developing iOS apps.

Can easily grow

Projects written in Swift are generally easier to develop. The fact that Apple is more likely to support Swift than Objective-C should be taken into account when planning a long-term investment. In addition, Swift allows you to extend the template if necessary. This is due to the simplicity and conciseness of the code base, inclusion is fairly quick. Swift’s syntax is considered to be similar to normal English, making it easy for new team members to understand. This is important for companies, as training takes a long time.

Stability and safety

Swift is an excellent choice for any iPhone app development company that wants to create a secure and reliable iOS app for its customers. This programming language includes an excellent type system, as well as robust coding and error handling, which helps to catch bugs and avoid coding errors. Swift’s shorter feedback cycle makes it easier for developers to detect errors in their code and fix them immediately. As a result, you’ll save time and effort, and you’ll be more likely to write high-quality code.

Community

Swift has skyrocketed in popularity thanks to support from Apple and IBM. After Go, TypeScript and Rust, Swift is one of the top 5 languages on GitHub with a very active and thriving user community. Apple receives constant feedback from the public and makes necessary changes to improve the platform. Swift has quickly established itself as one of the most popular programming languages for creating engaging, intuitive and easy-to-use iOS mobile apps. Apple is constantly working to improve Swift and other iOS languages to make them more efficient and effective.

We hope this article has helped you learn more about native mobile application development with Swift.