Should I learn Swift or Objective-C directly?

Should I learn Swift or Objective-C directly?

After Apple released the Swift language at the 2014 WWDC Conference, many beginners have a common question about whether to learn C or Objective-C. In addition, it seems that people are still confused about what part of the iOS development ecology Swift is suitable.

Should I first learn C/Objective-C or directly learn Swift?

Although Swift is a brand new language, it is closely related to Objective-C and C. Swift is actually a text Variant of Objective-C. For this brand new language, apple's work is far from what we imagined. The LLVM compiler only translates swift into the Objctive-C code first, then the Objective-C code into the C language code, then the C language code into the assembly, and finally the machine code. Although Swift is actually Objective-C, Swift is far better than Objective-C for beginners. It learns the essence of all languages. Therefore, if you study swift at home, you are advised to study Swift directly, however, if you participate in the training, we recommend that you first learn C/Objective-C to better understand the underlying implementation principles.

Learning Objective-C. Should I switch to Swift?

This depends on the situation. If you learn iOS as a hobby or out of curiosity, go to Swift. If you think of iOS development as a profession, you need to know that at least 1 million apps outside are written in Objective-C, and Swift was just released in 2014, therefore, you may still use Objective-C for app development in your future career. So you need to learn Objective-C to get a job until Swift becomes the standard, which will take several years. It is also good for you to learn two languages at the same time. Your boss may even ask you to switch the existing Objective-C app to Swift.

I suggest that beginners select Swift because it is a friendly language, especially playground, which makes it easy to learn. Once you have learned Swift, it is easier to understand Objective-C if you consider iOS development as a profession.

Finally, Swift is a modern language. If you learn Swift, you are prepared for the future, because Swift will be the language for the next generation of applications (including applications on Apple Watch ). The Swift language is a gift from Apple. Swift developers who do not have five years of experience in the world, but if you start to learn Swift now, you will become one of them after five years.

My final suggestion is that no matter which language you choose, you can learn it and be proficient in it. Finally, you will find that, as long as you learn the iOS SDK, which language you use is not the most important. After learning a language, you can easily start learning another language. The most important thing is to start learning from now on.