Swift programming language on Windows

Dear readers of our blog. Welcome to the Crocoapps.com team and in this article we will try to complete your understanding of the Swift programming language as much as possible.

After reading, you will learn:

• A bit of history
• “What is this?”
• How much do Swift developers of various qualifications get now
• Conclusion

Historical chronicle

The foundations of the Swift language were laid back in the NeXT platform, released by Apple in 1989-1995. Development of Swift as we know it now began in 2010, and the first version was released in 2014. To date, 5 versions of this language have already been released, the latest update is number 5.1.

During the development process, the best was taken from Objective-C (one might say, this is the basic foundation of Swift), Ruby, Python 3, Haskell and many others.

Goals and objectives

About high-level languages

Swift is a high-level language, but what does that mean?

A high-level language is a language designed to be easy and convenient to work with. In other words, specific tasks are posed in it much easier than in medium and low-level languages. The main difference between high-level languages ​​is the ability to abstractly introduce such semantic constructions, the description of which in machine code or another low-level language would take much more time and lines of code.

One of the features of high-level languages ​​is the independence of the algorithm from the platform. In this case, tool programs such as compilers that convert high-level algorithms into simple hardware code exhibit this dependency. Therefore, the compiler is always developed for a certain platform and a certain high-level language.

Thus, thanks to high-level languages, not only is it easier to solve complex software problems, but it also simplifies porting, that is, transferring the same program to another platform. By using different translators and interpreters, programs written in a high-level language communicate more easily with different operating systems, and ideally they do not need to change the program code depending on the platform.

This dissociation of high-level languages ​​from the computer's machine interpretation has its pluses and minuses. For example, you cannot set specific instructions for specific equipment. Code written in a high-level language is more human-readable but less efficient to execute than code written in a low-level language. As a result, in modern professional high-level languages, support for the parallel use of low-level (for example, assembler) has appeared.

And now specifically for Swift

As an Apple product, Swift is focused on building software for Mac OS X and iOS. But any user of Windows or Linux can master it. Thanks to this, development in swift on windows can be carried out with any IDE (Integrated Development Environment, which can even become a notepad), and we will compile the code, for example, in Swift for Windows.

It used to be like that. And recently, the possibility of native development on Windows has appeared. Now the compiler and key libraries are also available under Windows. The Swift language on windows came recently, at the end of September this year. This means that developers have the opportunity to transfer their projects to this platform. Moreover, Swift Windows (or Windows Swift, whatever) is not just a port. The use of all the functionality on the OS was ensured - the compiler, standard and auxiliary libraries. Now Swift is a programming language for Windows and for it as well.

Benefits:

• The security that strong typing provides, meaning you always know what type of object you're working with.
• Being a high-level language, it is much faster than its "ancestors". Apple claims that Swift is up to 2.6 times faster than Objective-C and nearly 8.4 times faster than Python 2.7. The maximum program is to outperform C++.
• Perspectives. In the next decade, Apple has no motive to replace Swift with another language. Let's add 6 years of progress, both in terms of development and popularity, the commercial success of Apple gadgets and the expansion of the line. Looking at all of this, it can be reasonably argued that the demand for Swift developers will only increase.
• Easy to learn. By all the canons of “Apple” minimalism, there is a simple syntax that is easy to read and no less easy to express. Swift is understandable even for developers who use other languages. This is a big advantage when cross-platform is one of the goals.
• Automatic memory management. Swift handles reference counting automatically and manages memory without developer intervention.

Disadvantages

• Shortage of personnel. Swift has recently been released relative to its counterparts, so there are quite a few talented developers. But nevertheless, it plays into the hands of those who want to develop in this language. The demand for them is only increasing, and the entry threshold is still at a comfortable level for beginners.
• Lack of libraries. Swift is fairly young, so there are relatively few native features that are compatible with other versions. Sometimes it happens that libraries and frameworks developed in previous releases are completely unusable in new ones.
• Destabilization. Quite often, programmers faced the same problem. Due to adjustments in new versions, Swift shows serious instability. Up to the point that if you want or need to use the new release, the developer will have to start writing code again. However, there is still a solution in the form of the Swift Migration Tool in XCode, which made it easier to migrate to the fourth version of this language.

Developer salary

Features of the profession

Developing with Swift is a very promising occupation, but the contingent developing software for iOS, OS X and other popular operating systems must have an excellent technical mindset, be creative, have the ability to apply non-standard solutions, which is not always possible to learn in Swift courses. The development process can use both Swift and Objective C, so you need to have decent skills in each of these languages.

A Swift developer can and should:

• create programs;
• test programs;
• place products in the store, analyze feedback from users who use the application;
• make adjustments, debug;
• develop updates, write instructions;
• Competently manage your budget and personal time.

But how much do they pay?

And now to the most interesting. To accounting. A couple of years ago we witnessed the so-called “IT boom”. With the advent of new technologies such as AR, VR, neural networks and others, the industry began to grow at an unprecedented pace. Against the backdrop of giant corporations like Google and Microsoft, a significant number of young but promising companies are emerging that require valuable personnel. And the Swift scope is no exception. The language is young, the competition is low, but this is a temporary phenomenon. Let's take a look at what prices Swift developers currently have.

The average income of developers of all levels is about 144 thousand rubles

Starting point - Junior Developer with a salary of about 80 thousand rubles. depending on the company. Middle Developer boasts a salary 1.5 times more than that of a "junior" - this is about 120 thousand rubles. Senior Developer overtook the “middle” one and a half times, and this is around 190 thousand rubles. And here is an interesting surprise. The lead receives on average 1.1 times less than the “senior”, that is, about 183 thousand rubles. Below will be provided statistics from various sources.

Conclusion

Thus, we tried to cover everything related to this programming language as much as possible. They talked about its technical component, development dynamics, advantages and disadvantages. As you already understood, Swift is young, promising and quite widely in demand in the IT services market. Due to its simplicity, it is quickly mastered, and is also excellent for a wide range of tasks. Of course, not without the participation of Apple's marketing in its promotion. But for an ordinary programmer, the general popularity of this language will only be a plus.