Learning Swift in 2024: Should You Do It?

What is Swift?

Swift is a programming language designed by Apple Inc. for developing applications for iOS, macOS, watchOS, and tvOS. As a high-performance and modern language, Swift aims to facilitate secure and rapid software development. Its ease of readability and writability saves developers time. Swift can work alongside Objective-C and utilizes Apple’s Cocoa and Cocoa Touch frameworks. It was first announced in 2014 and later open-sourced, gaining wide acceptance and support from the developer community. By making programming concepts more understandable and accessible, Swift is suitable for both experienced and novice programmers.

Learning Swift in 2024: Should You Do It?

While it’s challenging to provide a definitive answer about the relevance of learning Swift in 2024, considering current trends and the advantages of Swift, it could be beneficial to learn this language. Here are some reasons:

1. Popularity and Acceptance
   Swift remains one of the most popular languages for developing applications for Apple devices. Its popularity and adoption are growing faster than many other programming languages, with popular applications like Lyft, WordPress, WhatsApp, LinkedIn, Strava, Yahoo Weather, and Firefox having been developed using Swift.
2. Modernity and Strength
   Swift is a modern, fast, and powerful programming language. Its security and readability make it an excellent choice for those interested in iOS and MacOS development. Moreover, Swift makes coding concepts more understandable and accessible, making it suitable for novice programmers as well.
3. Demand and Employment Opportunities
   Due to its demand, learning Swift could increase the likelihood of becoming a highly sought-after Swift developer in the job market. The job market outlook for Swift developers is favorable, offering significant average salaries for this role.
4. Accessible Educational Resources
   Apple’s app development curriculum facilitates learning Swift coding proficiently. Apple provides a range of educational resources and guides to enable coding in Swift for everyone, allowing you to start building applications for Apple platforms, even without prior experience.

These factors indicate that Swift could still be a worthwhile language to learn in 2024. However, it’s crucial to consider your own goals, interests, and the demand in the industry when making your learning decision.

Advantages and disadvantages

The advantages and disadvantages of the Swift programming language are listed below based on information gathered from different sources:

Advantages:

1. Rapid Development Process
   Swift has a clean and straightforward syntax, making it easily readable and writable. It also supports international languages and emojis, reducing the amount of time and effort developers need to spend on memory management.
2. High Performance
   Swift showcases good performance in terms of code and program execution speed. Apple claims that Swift is eight times faster than Python or Javascript, and 2.5 times faster than Objective-C.
3. Simple Syntax
   Swift is a minimalist, logical, and structured language that does not require writing a large amount of code.
4. Efficiency and Simplicity
   Swift combines the efficiency and performance of compiled languages with the simplicity and interactivity of popular scripting languages.

Disadvantages:

1. Youthfulness of the Language
   Since Swift was introduced in 2014, it’s still a young language. Many business owners and developers are cautious when transitioning to a new language.

While more information can be acquired from other sources by browsing different pages, the mentioned advantages and disadvantages clearly outline the general pros and cons of the Swift programming language. We can see that Swift is a language that offers significant advantages, especially for those wanting to develop applications for Apple platforms, but its youthfulness presents some potential disadvantages.

Is Learning Swift Difficult?

The difficulty in learning Swift can vary depending on personal experience and previous programming knowledge. However, Swift can be accessible for beginners thanks to its readable syntax and comprehensive educational materials provided by Apple. Here are some points to consider:

1. Readable Syntax
   Swift’s syntax is designed to be clear and concise, as well as consistent. This can make the language easier to read and write, which is beneficial for beginners.
2. Interactive Learning Environment
   Swift provides an interactive learning environment which can facilitate quick learning and application. For instance, Swift Playgrounds is an app designed by Apple that makes learning Swift interactive and fun.
3. Community Support
   There’s a broad community of developers working with Swift, and many of them contribute to forums, write blogs, and create tutorials. This community support can be a valuable resource for someone learning Swift.
4. Comprehensive Educational Materials
   Apple provides a range of educational resources, including online tutorials, guides, and documentation which can be very helpful for someone learning Swift.
5. Swift Playgrounds
   As mentioned, Swift Playgrounds is an app that provides a hands-on introduction to Swift. It uses interactive puzzles and custom challenges to help users learn the syntax and concepts of Swift in a fun and engaging way.
6. Online Courses and Resources
   There are many online courses and resources available for learning Swift. These range from beginner to advanced levels, and many of them are free.
7. Prior Programming Knowledge
   Like with any programming language, having prior programming knowledge can make learning Swift easier. However, even without prior experience, the available resources and the design of the language make it a good choice for beginners.

While Swift is designed to be more straightforward than some programming languages, any new language will have a learning curve. Your personal experience will largely depend on your previous knowledge, the resources you use to learn, and the time you can dedicate to learning.

Learning Guide to Swift Programming Language: Step-by-step Roadmap from Beginning to Advanced

Here’s a structured roadmap for learning Swift programming language from beginning to advanced:

1. Preparation:

• Research: Acquire basic knowledge about Swift. Understand what Swift is, what it’s used for, and the platforms for which it is utilized for app development.
• System Requirements: Download the necessary tools and software for Swift development. Especially download Apple’s Xcode IDE as it’s the standard development environment for Swift coding.

2. Basic Education:

• Official Documentation: Explore Apple’s official Swift documentation which contains numerous guides and tutorials to help understand the basics of Swift.
• Online Courses: Enroll in Swift programming courses on platforms like Coursera, Udemy, or Codecademy.
• Interactive Learning: Utilize mobile apps like Swifty for learning Swift. Such apps make learning fun and effective through interactive lessons and exercises.

3. Practice:

• Your Own Projects: Start with simple projects and gradually move to more complex ones. Create your own apps to put what you’ve learned into practice.
• Write Lots of Code: The best way to learn Swift is by writing lots of code. Work on different projects and do daily coding exercises to improve your skills.

4. Communities and Assistance:

• Forums and Communities: Join forums related to Swift and interact with communities. Share your issues and get help from other developers.
• GitHub Projects: Explore open-source projects written in Swift and contribute to these projects.

5. Advanced Learning:

• Advanced Concepts: Learn advanced Swift concepts and iOS development techniques. At this stage, you can start exploring frameworks like SwiftUI or UIKit.
• Online Resources: Join more advanced Swift courses on platforms like Treehouse.

6. Portfolio Building:

• Showcase Your Projects: Build a portfolio and showcase the projects you’ve completed. This can serve as a valuable reference for potential employers.

This roadmap and resources can serve as a guide for you to learn Swift programming language and enhance your skills in this domain. Throughout your learning process, emphasize practice, engage with communities, and work on your own projects to reinforce your knowledge. Initially, focus on basic concepts and gradually transition to more complex concepts and projects as you become more comfortable and proficient with Swift.

Comparison between SwiftUI and UIKit: Which One Should You Choose for iOS App Development?

SwiftUI:

• Fast and Simple UI Development: One of the major advantages of SwiftUI is its ability for fast and simple User Interface (UI) development. SwiftUI comes with a declarative syntax, allowing developers to determine how the UI looks and performs without a series of actions.
• Cross-Platform Compatibility: SwiftUI enables developers to create user interfaces for various Apple devices, saving time and resources in the process.
• More Transitions and Animations: SwiftUI offers more transitions and animations compared to UIKit, where each has to be defined in the code by developers.
• More Reactive Approach: SwiftUI adopts a more reactive approach compared to UIKit, emphasizing more on what developers want to see on the screen.

Disadvantages:

• Less Customization and Performance Issues: The declarative syntax of SwiftUI may provide less control over the appearance and functionality of the UI compared to UIKit. Also, performance issues may arise for more complex UI designs.

UIKit:

• Maturity and Large Developer Community: UIKit is a mature framework used for creating recognized apps since the inception of iOS development, and it has a large and active developer community.
• Broader Customization Options: UIKit, with its imperative syntax, offers broader customization options, giving developers better control over the appearance and feel of the UI.
• High-Performance Visuals: UIKit is ideal for applications requiring a fluid and responsive UI. It has highly optimized graphic capabilities suitable for apps using animation, video, or other powerful graphics.

Disadvantages:

• Steep Learning Curve and Time-Consuming Development Process: UIKit has a steep learning curve as it requires developers to specify a series of procedural steps to create the UI. Especially, the development process can be time-consuming for highly customized UI.

The choice between SwiftUI and UIKit depends on the needs of your project and your team. If you are planning for simple and fast prototyping, SwiftUI may be more suitable. However, if you are developing an application with more complex user interfaces and advanced functionality, UIKit may be a better option. Understanding the main differences between the two frameworks will help in making an informed decision based on the requirements of your project.

Resource:
Learning Swift in 2024: Should You Do It?
CarrerFoundry — CodeAcedemy — CareerKarma — Apple

Advantages and disadvantages
TowardsDev — DEV