I am planning to learn to develop iOS apps. I'll most probably be learning Objective-C only for now and would like to develop some actual apps for iOS.
Now, with the launch of Swift 2.0, will Objective-C apps still run on iOS9 ? Also, is it possible to test run an Objective-C app on your phone like mentioned here ? https://developer.apple.com/xcode/
Or is this facility available only for apps written in Swift?
Does Swift allow me to do everything that Objective-C does?
Any further advide or guidance for what should I know before enrolling for the course will be appreciated to help me judge things better.
Swift is still just the second language. All Cocoa frameworks are written in C or Obj-C (maybe the new ones in iOS 9 are written in Swift).
The language in which an application is written doesn't matter, the code is compiled into the same machine code, so yes, Obj-C apps will continue to run and many developers won't bother with Swift. Apps that have been already written will not have to be rewritten to Swift (with some exceptions).
Swift won't allow you to do absolutely everything that Obj-C does but it will allow you to do almost everything and the code will be probably more robust, considering that Swift is more modern language with stronger typing than Obj-C. If you are a beginner, you won't probably find any problematic use case.
Related
My existing iOS app is in objective c language and i want to add more functionality in my app and i want to do that code in swift language.
So is it possible to create an app which contains both the languages(i.e. in objective c & swift) and Is my app will work fine?
In short answer, Yes.
If you have existing project written in objective-c then you can add new classes written in swift. You still have choice if you want to use swift 3.0 ot swift 2.0.
You have to use bridge class in order to achieve that. You will get more guide on Link provided on Apple website.
https://developer.apple.com/library/content/documentation/Swift/Conceptual/BuildingCocoaApps/MixandMatch.html
However going forward it would make sense that you spend more time on Learning Swift as Apple is now leaning towards Swift 3.0.
Here is link quick guide.
I need to insert native code in my Codename One app. I am a completely newbie in iOS programming so I need to learn Objective-C. However I read that Swift was the successor of Objective-C and I would feel more comfortable with Swift syntax. But I don't know if Swift is supported in Codename One. While looking at iOS source code generated by Codename One, although I am not 100% sure, it looks like C code (I may be wrong).
On his blog Shannah (from Codename One) wrote that
Codename One currently compiles everything down to plain old C code so we would be largely unaffected by such a change – although there would be some native portions that use Objective-C that would need updating. Luckily, if you’re a Codename One user, you don’t need to concern yourself with these details because you are working in Java.
I don't get it clear that's why I am asking whether it is possible to use Swift code in Codename One native code ?
Thanks a lot for helping me clarifying this topic!
Cheers
Yes and no. You can probably compile Swift code to a static library today (.a file) and just use that like any static lib where the Objective-C code just acts as a bridge.
Using Swift directly is problematic due to several factors:
Currently we are still using an older version of xcode when building, we made an attempt at migrating to the latest but had a setback. We'll migrate hopefully before 3.5 comes out, if not then shortly after.
Swift requires a relatively new version of xcode so until we do that embedding Swift code will be problematic.
Swift assumes ARC. This is something we tried to integrate with the GC but at this time it doesn't really work well.
We need to generate Swift stubs as an option, this is problematic as say you have existing cn1lib or native interface that relies on Objective-C it might create a conflict.
But lets back track a bit. Swift is a huge advantage over Objective-C which is pretty old by now. But it doesn't have any major advantages for Codename One developers...
It isn't faster as Codename One translates to C which is faster than both Swift and Objective-C
It won't make the code much cleaner, if you have a lot of code in your native interfaces then you are doing something wrong. Most of your code is in Java anyway, you can debate the merits of Java vs. Swift but if you are using Codename One then you pretty much picked Java.
If you need to use an app written in Swift you can package it as a static library.
So there is really no real use case for Swift in Codename One at this time.
Our team is in process of electing programming language to develop a new iOS application in which we have to write features to support video conversation.
The backend is written using WebRTC, now we have to decide which language to use in the iPhone app and we prefer Swift in this case.
However, I'm not sure Swift supports WebRTC or not.
My initial research show that we can implement the features using Objective-C. I found an example written in Objective-C which you can find the source code here.
However, I'm not sure about Swift. Does Swift also support WebRTC?
UPDATE 2023
Unfortunately, as of 2023 there still appears to be no completely Swift framework that implements the WebRTC protocol. Although the iOS framework hosted at webrtc.org can be fairly easily used in Swift apps, it is written mostly in objective C.
For those stumbling on this question, who just want to get webRTC running in your app this is still relatively easy using the cocoapod
UPDATE 2016
The easiest way is to get webRTC in your project is to simply install the CocoaPod using the directions at https://cocoapods.org/pods/WebRTC
If you have never used CocoaPods before you will need to first follow this guide: https://guides.cocoapods.org/using/getting-started.html
Original Answer
The simple answer to the question is that there are currently no open source libraries written in Swift conforming to the WebRTC protocol. You can still compile the code from the official WebRTC project into your app. Directions which may not lead to a successful build can be found here: https://webrtc.org/native-code/ios/
Finally, to clarify Omkar Guhilot's answer: Skylink is a company with a closed source SDK that is designed to work only with their paid stun-turn service, and https://github.com/alongubkin/phonertc requires cordova, which may not be ideal for many native ios developers.
Webrtc comes with Objective C interface. I dont think they will move to swift interface anytime soon. But You can always use them via bridging headers. I have written apprtc (webrtc's demo) in swift 2.3 version with help of bridging headers in github link with a description in this blog . I have planned to write 3.0 version and a swift wrappers over it.
Current version of webrtc framework doesn't require any pods or any extra bridging headers.
The framework can be generated by following instructions on this Link :
https://webrtc.github.io/webrtc-org/native-code/ios/
If you follow them correctly you will generate a framework add that framework in your project and follow the webrtc necessary steps and you will have a WEBRTC integrated project.
To know what all steps are necessary follow this link from appear.in
:
https://tech.appear.in/2015/05/25/Getting-started-with-WebRTC-on-iOS/
This will get you to a stage where you will be able to make calls between a browser and any iOS 8+ device
Yes swift supports WebRTC and there is one more library which you can use in swift link:- http://skylink.io/ios/
And the link that you have shared to which is written in Objective C, we should be able to use that as well in swift by creating a Bridging header
Have a look at this as well https://github.com/alongubkin/phonertc
Thanks
Omkar
Actually, I am working on one app and started with the objective-c. Now i have started working on swift with the same app for the further development and it will work with both the class (objc and swift).
Now I have doubt that it will accept by apple store or not.
Please help me.
This is fine, Apple provides the mechanisms for interacting with both and will not drop support for Objective-C for quite sometime. Many large organisations still have the majority of their code written in Obj-C (including Apple) so they need to give people time to transition, they aren't going to switch over immediately to a relatively immature language.
You can use Swift and Objective-c together. There is no issue in it. You need to create a bridging header file.
Please read this
Swift and Objective-C in the Same Project
I am running out of time can anyone suggest me a good solution for my problem
Problem:
I am working in a ios project in which they have a UI designed already in flex a year ago..Now I have done all the backend coding with objective-c using apple native (IDE) xcode ,Now i dont know how I am going to combine the flex UI with the backend Objective c coding to integrate into a single application.
With Adobe Native Extensions you can do it, but I warn you, it'll be a hard game to get it start. http://www.adobe.com/devnet/air/articles/building-ane-ios-android-pt1.html