Why Some Developers Still Prefer Objective-C for iOS Development

Find out the advantages of Objective-C, including legacy code support, mature ecosystems, performance benefits, and debugging tools, and understand why it remains a relevant choice for certain projects.

In the ever-evolving world of iOS development, Swift has certainly emerged as the go-to language for most modern applications. With its user-friendly syntax, faster compile times, and seamless integration with Apple’s ecosystem, Swift has quickly overtaken Objective-C as the preferred choice for many developers.  

However, despite Swift’s rise to prominence, Objective-C continues to be a valuable and relevant tool for iOS developers. In this blog post, we’ll dive deep into why some developers still prefer Objective-C for iOS development.

1. Legacy Codebases

One of the most significant factors in why some developers stick with Objective-C is the prevalence of legacy codebases. Objective-C has been around since the early days of iOS development, and many large, well-established apps have been built in this language. For these apps, especially those with long-term development cycles, rewriting them in Swift may not be a viable option.

Rewriting an entire application from Objective-C to Swift involves significant time, resources, and potentially introduces new bugs. Furthermore, older applications often have a well-tested, stable codebase that performs well and meets users’ needs. In such cases, there's little incentive to undertake a full-scale rewrite in Swift when the app is functioning perfectly in Objective-C.

In addition, Apple provides excellent interoperability between Swift and Objective-C, allowing developers to gradually transition codebases without the need for a full rewrite. Developers can mix and match Swift and Objective-C files within the same project, enabling them to introduce new Swift code while maintaining legacy Objective-C code without disrupting the entire app.

2. Mature Ecosystem

Objective-C has a rich, mature ecosystem built over the course of many years. This extensive history has led to the development of a robust collection of libraries, frameworks, and third-party tools. For developers working on older projects or those who prefer tried-and-tested solutions, this ecosystem is incredibly valuable. Many libraries that are still widely used today were originally developed in Objective-C and are only partially or slowly being updated for Swift.

Additionally, because Objective-C has been around for so long, developers have access to a wealth of community knowledge, tutorials, and troubleshooting resources. Objective-C’s longer presence in the development world means there’s an abundance of documentation and real-world examples for developers to reference, ensuring that they can easily find help when faced with challenges. In comparison, Swift, while growing rapidly, is still catching up in terms of maturity and community knowledge for niche use cases.

3. Performance Considerations

Although Swift is a performant language, Objective-C still holds some advantages in performance, particularly when it comes to low-level optimizations. Objective-C’s message-passing system, where objects communicate by sending messages to one another, can sometimes be more efficient for certain operations that require fine-grained control over memory management and system resources.  

Developers working on apps that need to squeeze out every bit of performance—such as real-time data processing, complex animations, or intensive computational tasks—may find Objective-C to be the better tool in specific scenarios.

Objective-C also allows developers to directly manage memory using manual reference counting (MRC), which gives them more control over memory allocation and deallocation. In contrast, Swift relies on automatic reference counting (ARC), which, while effective for most scenarios, can introduce overhead in highly resource-sensitive applications. Some developers prefer the explicitness of Objective-C’s manual memory management for performance-critical applications.

4. Familiarity and Comfort

For many seasoned developers, Objective-C remains a preferred language simply because of familiarity. Objective-C’s syntax and paradigms have been around for decades, and many developers have grown comfortable with its intricacies. Transitioning to Swift requires learning a new syntax, adapting to Swift’s more concise style, and understanding its unique features, such as optionals, closures, and type inference.  

While Swift is often praised for being more user-friendly, it does introduce concepts that may feel unfamiliar to developers who are used to Objective-C’s more verbose but predictable structure. For developers who have been working with Objective-C for years, the language is second nature. They understand the nuances and potential pitfalls, making them more productive and confident when writing code. Switching to Swift might introduce challenges such as bugs due to differences in memory management, error handling, and type safety that could slow down development. As a result, some developers prefer the comfort and familiarity that Objective-C provides, especially in the context of maintaining or enhancing existing apps.

5. Better Debugging and Reflection Tools

One of the standout features of Objective-C is its powerful runtime and reflection system. Reflection in Objective-C allows developers to introspect on objects at runtime, meaning they can inspect, modify, and interact with objects dynamically during the app's execution. This feature is especially useful for debugging, as developers can examine objects' internal states, method implementations, and class structures while the application is running.

While Swift has introduced some reflection capabilities, they are not as robust or flexible as those available in Objective-C. In particular, Swift lacks the same level of runtime flexibility when it comes to modifying objects or interacting with the application’s internals dynamically. For developers working on complex applications that require deep inspection or advanced debugging techniques, Objective-C’s runtime introspection is a critical tool that can speed up troubleshooting and problem-solving.

6. Interoperability with C and C++

Objective-C was designed with interoperability in mind, particularly with C and C++. This makes it an ideal choice for developers who need to integrate legacy C or C++ libraries into their iOS apps. Many developers working in specialized fields, such as gaming, machine learning, or system-level programming, rely on C or C++ code for performance reasons. Objective-C’s seamless integration with these languages makes it much easier to call C or C++ functions, pass data between languages, and work with low-level memory management.

While Swift has made strides in providing support for C and C++ interoperability, it still requires workarounds or external tools to bridge gaps between the languages. For example, using Swift with C libraries often necessitates writing wrapper code or dealing with additional complexities in memory management. Developers who are already comfortable with Objective-C’s ability to interact with C/C++ may prefer sticking with it for projects that rely on these languages.

7. Stability and Predictability

Objective-C has been around since the 1980s, and its design has been refined and optimized over the years. This long history gives developers confidence in its stability and reliability. Unlike Swift, which is evolving rapidly and receiving frequent updates from Apple, Objective-C has maintained a consistent syntax and feature set. For developers working on long-term projects or those that require support over many years, Objective-C’s predictability and maturity provide peace of mind.

In comparison, Swift’s relatively young nature means it undergoes frequent changes, with new features, syntax adjustments, and performance optimizations added in every update. While these changes are generally improvements, they can also introduce breaking changes or require developers to continually update their code to stay in sync with the latest version. For projects that prioritize long-term stability, Objective-C may be the more practical choice.

Conclusion

While Swift is undoubtedly the future of iOS development, Objective-C remains an important language in the iOS ecosystem. Whether due to the need to maintain legacy codebases, leverage its mature ecosystem, or benefit from its performance optimizations and debugging tools, Objective-C continues to hold value for many developers. It offers a level of stability, control, and familiarity that can’t be matched by Swift in certain contexts.

Ultimately, the choice between Objective-C and Swift depends on the specific requirements of the project. For new apps or those that demand cutting-edge features, Swift is often the better choice. However, for developers maintaining long-established apps or those working in performance-critical domains, Objective-C still offers a compelling option that is far from obsolete.