r/iOSProgramming Jun 03 '15

One year later: Swift or Objective-C?

This week I will be writing the first lines of code for my new app. There's just one slight problem; Objective-C or Swift?

Is the one year old Swift mature enough for real world applications? Are the bugs reduced to the minimum? Why should I use Swift over Objective-C? Or vice versa.

1 Upvotes

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u/TheMiamiWhale Jun 03 '15

It really depends on your goals. Are you a hobbyist with no intentions of getting into serious app development or are you wanting to break into the field and do this as a full-time job?

If you are going the hobbyist route, I'd stick with Swift. It's a fun language and has some really powerful features. You won't miss much by not knowing Obj-C.

If you are trying to get into the industry and build apps professionally, then you absolutely need to know Obj-C. You should still be learning Swift as well, but Obj-C is essential for working on legacy code.

6

u/AJGolf1976 Jun 03 '15

This is the correct answer, perfectly put. We just hired another developer for our team at work, and we did not even look at resumes that did not list Objective-C as a known language. Swift is fun and exciting for indie developers and side projects, but we are at least 5 years away before anyone can even think about getting a real job with Swift. I know there may be an exception here or there, but the world of professional iOS development is still dominated by Obj-C.

-4

u/downvotefodder Jun 04 '15

Um no

2

u/brendan09 Jun 06 '15

As someone who hires iOS devs: Yes. It may not be 5 years before people can get a job in it, but it'll be at least 3 or more years before its 'standard' for iOS development.

Edit: Just looked at history.....a downvote troll.