Main Characteristics of the Languages Used for iOS Apps
Objective-C is the iOS coding language created by Stepstone in the early 1980s. It was presented to the
public in 1988 when Tom Love and Brad Cox released the book "Object Oriented Programming: Evolutionary
Approach." In the late 1980s, Objective-C was adopted by NeXT Computer, Inc., authorised for the
development of the NeXTStep framework and eventually acquired by Apple. It’s a standard that has been in
the field of iOS application development for many years.
Objective-C was developed under the influence of two other
languages: C and Smalltalk. This is
why it has such lengthy and complicated grammar. It derives its object syntax from Smalltalk,
whilst the syntax for object-oriented operations is the same as in C. It uses message exchange
and dynamic typing and also needs to split the class into two code blocks: interface and
integration.
Swift is a relatively new iOS development language. Apple initiated work on Swift in 2010 and
released it in 2014. By 2015, the language had become open source. It’s now given up its
Smalltalk and C legacy and has all the features of modern programming languages: generics, type
inference, options and higher-order functions.
Development Speed
Language functions seem technical, but they have a considerable influence on the business side,
depending on the speed of development. Application development in Swift is faster than in Objective-C.
The use of generic and higher-order functions leads to cleaner, more reusable code. The optional and
type inference leads to the security responsibility code being transferred from the programmer to the
compiler. A more concise syntax, with no need to create two code blocks for the class interface and
implementation, means that the programmer can write fewer lines of code, the effect is the same as
Objective-C.
All this makes development faster. This is more than just a theory – although there is no official
research, we can confirm it as fact based on our own experience and the experience of our iOS
developers.
Other Pros and Cons
Swift is faster to develop, but this isn’t the only factor you should consider when taking
business-critical decisions. What are the pros and cons of these two Apple-related languages?
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It has existed for many years and has been thoroughly tested. Millions of lines of code
were written in Objective-C. There are many well-documented third-party frameworks and
almost every question has an answer.
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Compatibility with C and C ++. Because it is a superset of C, Objective-C runs
relatively smoothly with C or C ++ code.
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It is very stable. If you use Objective-C to build your app, you may not need to spend
money to migrate your app to a new version in a few months.
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More difficult to learn. Objective-C is very different from many other popular coding
languages and its memory management is very complex. This is why Apple developers
familiar with Objective-C are more likely to learn Swift and vice versa.
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Lower number of available developers. Because Objective-C is hard to learn, there are
more programmers studying Swift than Objective-C.
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Applications developed using Objective-C may be easier to decipher than their Swift
alternatives. As Objective-C is well known and has existed for many years, this means
that reverse-engineering tools have also evolved very well.
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Swift is safer. Because of its features – generic nature, options and type interference
– applications developed in Swift are more prone to errors and crashes than applications
developed in Objective-C.
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Apple focuses on Swift. Apple continues to develop this language and support the
community. There are some amazing technical talks about Swift in every WWDC, with the
premise being that Swift should be taken seriously.
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We can also assign IT specialists that can speak your foreign language and that
are close to you geographically so you'll be able to communicate conveniently on your
own time zone. Our app developer for hire are very adaptable and versatile.
Which Apple App Development Language Is Better?
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The application was written in Objective-C and you just need to add new features. Swift
interoperates with Objective-C, which means you can successfully use both languages within one
project. However, this may not be the best option. Keeping an application in two coding
languages can cause problems. You should be aware that there may be some edge conditions.
Firstly, you’ll need a developer with proficiency in both languages. More importantly, context
switching makes the developer's job slower since they need to switch between programming
languages every day.
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You need to use third-party C or C ++ structures extensively. This situation is relatively rare.
In this case, since Objective-C is a superset of C, it might be worth using that language.
What Language is Used to Write Apple Apps?
From the developer's point of view, Swift is safer, faster and more enjoyable. On the other hand, it
just isn’t as mature as the C-family. The proper decisions are always made in a specific
context.
iOS Development: Getting Acquainted with the Process
Developing a native iOS app can be a tricky process. The developers you hire will work on it
at every step, so there should be a professional technician on hand to visualise your
application through the design and coding phases.
First, let's get acquainted with the real development aspects of your app – including some
of the terminologies and techniques that are useful when starting an Apple app development
project.
Critical Point: the First Phase of iOS Application Development
We start by discussing your project, including wireframing, storyboards and user interface
design, with the development team. We build a prototype and then write your app in order to
set up any server-side architecture such as a database. Our experienced iOS developers
become your key consultants and guide you through each stage until your product is submitted
to the App Store.
The Development Starts with the User Interface (UI)
The user interface is developed using Storyboard and Interface Builder. This lays the
foundation for how your application will work – it forms the interaction among the user
interface, the database and the users. The prototype will create a style guide, but will
also serve as a template for developers to start using the front-end and back-end software
plans.
All iOS Applications are Supported by Event-driven Development
The interactions mentioned above are always caused by events. The event is triggered by a
user action, the user action sends a request, manipulates the data and sends a response. The
definition will guide application interaction to lay the foundation for all the code that
will run application logic.
Building the Front-end and Back-end
The software architecture planning phase coincides with the design of the user interface and
usually goes through several iterations of feedback editing. Developers will ensure that any
proposed project is well supported on the back-end, optimised for performance and
scalability. Using the Foundation framework and the Core Data framework and API, developers
will create a template for your application to organise data so that the controller layer of
your app knows how to extract it from the database, delete or edit content. The controller
layer is built using the Objective-C, Swift and Cocoa Touch frameworks. If you need to build
your own back-end or you’ve chosen a BaaS (backend as a Service) software package or
engineer back-end system, back-end developers are key to the application development
process.
Clients
Our Skills
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Software architecture design: We understand what technology is used on the front-end and
back-end of the app so that it is well-supported and scalable enough to grow;
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User Experience and UI Design: The design and software architecture phases require a complete
understanding of user experience and UI design, so that prototypes can be created and encoded
from these templates.
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Design Patterns: The iOS software design standard determines how the application behaves, so
knowing when and where to apply these standards to better support your application is essential
for smooth, efficient development.
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iOS Framework and Development Environment: The Apple framework contains a library of code and
methods for applications accessible through the framework API.
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Apple Xcode IDE: Apple SDK
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Cocoa Structure: Cocoa (OS X) and Cocoa Touch (iOS) are proprietary Apple structures written in
the Objective-C programming language.
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Apple UIKit Framework: Advanced framework for creating user interfaces
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Core Graphics: Low-level structure for building graphics like as Core audio, Core animation,
Core data.
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iOS programming language: Objective-C, Swift
Principle of Object-oriented Programming
Third-party platforms allow our developers to encode applications using CSS, HTML and JavaScript,
including: PhoneGap, Titanium Titanium, Xamarin.
We have a wealth of experience in Apple app development, design, testing and deployment in the App
Store. Contact us to discuss your project and we’ll do the discovery for your existing software
solutions, estimate the functional demands of your task and suggest the Apple app development language
that fits best.
