Parija Rangnekar – Page 5

If you are willing to develop a futuristic iOS app for your target audience, then Swift should be your preferred choice. This is so because Swift iOS app development is cost-effective and requires less coding efforts as the language is intuitive, easier to learn, and comes with several advanced features and powerful tools. This modern programming language is going to survive for long due to the plethora of benefits that it offers, as compared to its old competitor, Objective-C.

Earlier, Objective-C was principally used for building iOS applications. However, it became out-dated slowly due to the lack of several useful features offered by other new-age programming languages. Apple Corp had worked on Objective-C improvements for almost 6 years and understood that a better language could be introduced for writing mobile applications. Due to such loopholes of Objective-C, Apple introduced an advanced language in 2014- Swift which had pioneering features to accelerate the iOS app development.

Swift is general-purpose, multi-paradigm, and compiled language. It is a fast, safe, and interactive language specially developed for iOS, macOS, Linux, tvOS, and watchOS. It soon superseded Objective-C and became the favorite of developers across the world. Several giants like LinkedIn, IBM, Facebook, Mozilla, Uber, etc. were already using Swift but now, even start-ups have started focussing on it.

In this blog, we will explore the key reasons why start-ups choose Swift for iOS app development instead of Objective-C.

Top Reasons why Start-ups Prefer Swift over Objective-C

Swift is quite successful today not only because it is feature-rich and well-structured, but also due to a huge support of millions of people, globally. Its independently managed conferences enhance the Swift community. Also, there are two main differences between Swift and Objective-C:

Swift isn’t a superset of C, so, it can freely make use of syntax constructs. This enables implementation of custom operators.
Swift is not dynamically typed but it is statically typed, due to which it can take benefit of a number of recent advancements in the type systems.

Let us understand in detail about what more is there for start-ups to prefer Swift over Objective-C.

Open-Source and Fast-Growing Language

Swift is the fastest-growing open-source language and has great potential. It can be immediately accessible to anyone and start-ups can take advantage of this. Also, Swift can be applied across several platforms and backend infrastructure as well since it is open-source. It is also available on Linux and efforts are being made to bring it to Windows. Swift receives feedback from the iOS app development community to make improvements to get more structured. Comparatively, Objective-C isn’t an open-source language and also becoming out-dated gradually.

Less Coding Efforts and Less Prone to Errors

Swift is a functional programming language and allows passing functions as variables. It also allows manipulation of data and text strings. This lets the Swift developers develop generic code which reduces the coding efforts to a great extent. So, writing, reading, and modifying the code is easier in Swift which ensures better readability. Also, this language has smaller code lengths due to the use of a feature called- Type interface. This feature helps to avoid incorrect coding and provides less error-prone code.

When a null optional variable is used in Swift, a run-time crash is triggered instantaneously. Due to its consistent behavior, this crash forces the bug-fixing process and so, the bugs get fixed instantly. As a result, even the development time reduces.

However, in Objective-C, complete code needs to be written every time there is a change in the code. So, it needs extensive coding and has greater execution time.

Shorter Time-to-Market

Shorter time-to-market is a critical factor for start-ups. What they want is good-quality products in less time. Of course, they need to hire dedicated iOS app developers for this. But in addition, Swift has package managers that allow the developers to focus on the logic, push their packages for collaboration with others, and use different packages for quickly assembling the applications while significantly reducing the time-to-market.

Similarly, there are many other speed-based advantages that Swift offers over Objective-C apps while developing iOS apps due to which start-ups prefer Swift.

Highly Safe and Secure

Safety and security is a very important factor while developing mobile apps. Swift has an all-inclusive Security Framework having several APIs that handle authorization services, certificates, keys, trust policies, etc. Some APIs are also used to apply cryptography encryption to the messages. Also, as discussed earlier, the use of a nil optional variable makes the bug-fixing process easier and immediate.

Syntax in Swift forces the coders to write a clean and consistent code. It not only saves time but also supports the safety of the apps, though it may feel strict sometimes. The way Swift handles the bugs ensures safer applications as compared to Objective-C.

Needs less Maintenance

Swift for iOS app development is preferred by start-ups for one more significant reason. This programming language doesn’t have any legacy code and so, needs lesser maintenance as compared to Objective-C. Unlike Swift, Objective-C depends on C for its evolution. In C, iOS app developers need to maintain and manage two separate code files- (.h) header file and (.m) implementation file, for better efficiency and building time of the app. The same legacy is carried forward by Objective-C, which can be cumbersome to manage at times. In the case of Swift, only one single file- (.swift) needs to be maintained, making the overall maintenance quite easier.

Has a Bright Future

Swift is a well-designed and well-organized programming language. It provides an enhanced development process along with some excellent features which simplify the developers’ task.

Though Swift has emerged just a couple of years ago, yet it has made a tremendous evolution. Undoubtedly, Objective-C won’t vanish from the market but it has definitely started losing ground ever since Swift came into the picture. Also, it is evident from the conferences held by Apple and its software releases that Apple is going to develop Swift with some amazing features. So, we can expect several upgrades of Swift in iOS app development in the future.

Along with the above-mentioned points, there are a few more considerations for the start-ups to choose Swift over Objective-C, as listed in the below table:

Characteristics	Swift	Objective-C
Paradigm	Object-Oriented	Class based Object Oriented
Performance	High-performance	Not fast-performing due to runtime code compilation
Complexity	Requires fewer code lines making it simpler	Coding is complex as text strings need many steps for linking different pieces of information
Community support	A fast-growing community of supporters	Loyal community for 30 years
Memory management	Supports the ARC for all APIs	Uses the ARC supported only within the Cocoa API
Long-term Outlook	Rapidly growing and has a bright future	Constant support by Apple
Dynamic libraries support	Supports dynamic libraries	Doesn’t support dynamic libraries
Readability	Clean syntax and better readability	Uses many @ symbols, semicolons, lines, etc. to insert new keywords and making it difficult to read

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Key Takeaways:

Swift and Objective-C are the two most high-end Apple programming languages. However, Swift supersedes Objective-C in many ways. It is clean, expressive, and intuitive as compared to Objective-C. Also, when it comes to cost-savings, developing a Swift app for your business is the apt choice. So, in this competitive business world, it is advisable for start-ups to opt for Swift and hire Swift app developers for building powerful, immersive, and profitable iOS applications.

Chatbots – A Magical Technology to Automate Business Communication, and Save Time!

With most companies laying their focus on customer engagement, the role of technology has drastically shot up. Customer expectations are all-time high and patience levels are dipping. Customers want immediate responses to their queries/concerns. Owing to increased number of queries from users, customer service teams are unable to fulfil all the requests thereby increasing customer dissatisfaction. But, the technological transformation has resulted in the invention of an intelligent solution to this problem: Chatbots.

We all have interacted with chatbots some or the other time. Chatbots are software programs designed to conduct human-like online interactions using text or audio responses and offer a rich customer experience to the end-users. With users gravitating towards mobile apps, chatbots have started to become a crucial part of mobile app development. Countless chatbot application development services have emerged worldwide for serving various businesses.

Types of Chatbots:

When Facebook integrated bot support into its messenger in 2016, it simply took over the market. Following the footsteps, a plethora of other companies started launching chatbots with the help of mobile app development services. Today, chatbot integration in mobile apps, as well as, websites has become very common. So what type of chatbots are available in the market? If broadly classified, they come in two varieties:

AI-based Bots – Learn from the environment and user conversations. These get smarter as they encounter different situations.
Fixed Bot – Run on a set of data already fed into the system. They respond only to pre-defined commands and pick from a given set of responses.

Are Chatbots in Mobile Application Development working Well for Companies?

Absolutely. Major companies are banking on chatbots to improve their user engagement. Look at e-commerce giant, Amazon. Amazon has doubled its force in this space. Amazon integrated its voice assistant, Alexa, into its native mobile app. It has also intelligently integrated messaging assistant into its mobile application. The chatbot has been doing wonders for Amazon.

Not just Amazon, but several other companies are placing their bets on chatbots and partnering with chatbot application development companies. At sometime around in late 2016, Bank of America too announced a launch of an AI-based chatbot – Erica. The chatbot was launched with an aim to enhance customer experience and finances. It is in use today as well and is easing out numerous processes in money management.

Gartner, a world leader in IT research, has already predicted that by 2021, more than 50% of enterprises will spend more on chatbots than mobile apps. So, it is evident that Chatbot in mobile application development has already started to be the face of AI.

Why should you consider chatbot integration in your mobile app?

Though chatbots have created success stories for many companies, it is always good to know the fundamentals of why this technology is working so well. Here are a few reasons that are true for chatbot technology:

Simplify Mobile App Experience:

Chatbots cut the human dependency and provide 24/7 customer service. Customers are able to make a faster decision with the help of a chatbot – thanks to multiple choices offered quickly by smart chatbots that are able to learn the customer requirement.

Drive Sales Through Chatbot:

E-commerce giants like Amazon have been able to not just handle customer queries but also able to drive sales with chatbots around.

Application Becomes Highly Responsive:

Mobile app users do not need to wait for hours or even minutes anymore to get a response. Chatbots are quick and highly responsive. You ask a query, and in the shortest time possible, there will be a response.

Chatbot Handles Multiple Requests:

Chatbots will be able to handle multiple requests at a time. This is seen as one of the major advantages that it holds. It is humanly impossible to handle so many requests, but chatbots make it possible. Therefore, they allow cost-savings too.

Need for Chatbot Customization in Mobile Apps:

As mobile apps are becoming one of the best platforms to engage the audience, it makes more sense to integrate a chatbot in the mobile application development process and build a strategy that involves engagement and communication with the customer through the chatbot.

But, there’s no ‘one size fits all’ chatbot. You can get the chatbot customized from a chatbot app development company as per your business requirements. This allows you to choose more apt and interactive responses for your customers, which will address their specific needs.