One of the most powerful and intuitive programming languages, Swift developed by Apple Inc., is used to develop iOS applications and Linux applications. Apple devices have captured a significant market share in the recent time and are now competing neck-to-neck with Android. With such skyrocketing popularity, this intuitive open source programming language has also built a wide developer base.
Why You Should Learn Swift?
When it comes to mobile phones, iOS and Android are undoubtedly the leaders; not only in terms of selling mobile phones but also in terms of applications. Being at the forefront of the mobile industry, both iOS and Android corner the majority of mobile application developer jobs. Software developers usually find it difficult to decide which one to pursue.
While the majority of the programmers go with Android application development, they don’t notice that the future of Swift is getting brighter with the Swift developer base increasing year after year. Android might be more popular than iOS, but still, most of the apps come out for iOS then they are launched for Android. One of the best examples for this is Instagram, the photo-sharing platform which was launched on Android 18 months after its iOS launch. But, why is it so?
When a developer creates an app for iOS, it is basically for a small range of iPhones or iPads (like you can count on fingertips). However, the scenario is completely different in Android; there are thousands of different Android devices and while developing an application, the developer needs to keep that in mind. One unspotted bug on a model and you will be flooded with emails.
That is not the only case, compared to most of the Android apps that are ad-supported, there are a lot of iOS apps that needs payment which makes it more profitable not only for a company but also for an independent iOS developer.
So, if you are a beginner looking to start your journey in programming and have dreams of building apps for iPhones, then Swift is the programming language one should definitely learn. And, as the majority of the apps are launched on iOS first, many businesses across the globe are putting efforts to have iOS apps. Meaning, if you have strong Swift skills you will be in demand.
As compared to Android programming, Swift is easier to learn.
Some of the best features that Swift offers a developer
In order to make programming a bit easier, Swift started as an alternative to the Objective-C language —it is safer, faster, and more expressive. And being a programming language that is easier to learn and work with, Swift offers its developers some of the amazing features.
- To keep code clean and free from risk and mistakes, Swift supports inferred types
- The modules that Swift supports are used to eliminate the need for headers while still providing namespaces
- In Swift, memory is automatically managed in a dynamic way
- It also supports functional programming patterns
- Swift is loaded with some of the best error-handling tools that make the work easier for a developer
Here are some of the best online resources to get started with for Swift
Treehouse: Founded on March 22, 2011, Treehouse is an online technology school that provides one of the best iOS and OS X courses. Treehouse starts the course from the scratch — starting from the basic of Swift to building an iOS app.
It is always important to have a strong foundation when you learn to code, and if you are a beginner, Treehouse is highly recommended as it makes sure that students understand the concepts well.
Ray Wenderlich – A Swift Quick Start Guide: When it comes to iOS, Ray Wenderlich is one of the industry’s most reputed personality. He runs a website www.raywenderlich.com, which is an online tutorial blog on mobile development, offering an incredible amount of useful resources for learning Swift. With over 2,000 high-quality tutorials, Ray’s website is undoubtedly one of the best online platforms to kickstart a career in Swift programming.
Apple Swift Programming Documentation: When we are talking about Swift, how can we forget about its creator? As Apple introduced this amazing programming language, they offer complete documentation, which could be your one stop shop for anything you have to refer — from the basics to advanced learning. So, if you are just getting started with Swift and need some help in clearing your doubts then you can refer to Apple’s Swift Programming Language Documentation.
Udemy: Being one of the leading global marketplaces for learning and instruction, Udemy is also a great place to start your Swift journey. From basics to core level, there are hundreds of courses available on the platform from different teachers that will teach you Swift.
Outlook
From the very beginning, we all have seen that Apple doesn’t open the door for users to have a look inside — it likes to keep its users living inside. But with the advent of Swift, things have changed a bit — Apple open-sourced Swift and received a lot of help from the community to grow over the last few years. Ever since its inception, it has become tremendously popular and more mature than ever. Talking about the future of this amazing programming language, the developers are not going to abandon Swift because there is nothing like a native app with good performance and a good flow.
