Kotlin Vs Swift - Key Differences You Should Know About in 2023

Both Kotlin and Swift have taken the mobile app development world by storm.

For instance, ever since Google announced Kotlin as an official language for Android app development, the adoption rate of Kotlin sky-rocketed.

Today, lots of global brands and companies have adopted Kotlin in their software products.

In fact, according to JetBrains, the creator of Kotlin, thinks that Kotlin will soon overtake Java as a preferred Android app development language.

Swift, on the other hand, recently climbed in the TIOBE Index top 10 programming languages.

And just like Kotlin, Swift is also being adopted by popular brands and companies including Uber, Apple, 9GAG, and Intuit to name just a few.

In today’s Kotlin Vs Swift post, we’re going to share key differences between Kotlin and Swift that everyone should about in 2022.

Let’s start with the basics!

What is Kotlin?

Kotlin was first unveiled in July 2011, a new programming language for JVM.

It is a statically typed, cross-platform, general-purpose language with type interface, which is fully-interoperable with JVM and Java.

And even though Kotlin is younger than most other Android app development languages, lots of developers as well as big brands have adopted the language, all thanks to the first-class support from Google.

What is Swift?

Apple introduced Swift in 2014 and described it as “Objective C without the C”.

Swift is basically a multi-paradigm, general-purpose, compiled programming language, which is built using the LLVM compiler.

It was developed to curb the difficulties and issues that are present in Objective C.

In fact, ever since its inception, Swift has become one of the most popular and most preferred programming languages for TvOS, WatchOS, macOS, and iOS application development.

So, now that the basics are clear, let’s directly jump into the subject and discuss the main 5 key differences between Kotlin and Swift.

Kotlin Vs Swift – 5 Key Differences

Though there are many similarities between Kotlin and Swift, but they’re actually completely different from each other.

That being said, let’s look at the most important differences between the two.

1 – Enums

Enums basically means enumeration, which is used in the coding. Now, Swift has its own name constraints under an enum list.

For example, enums in Swift helps to perform structs features, computational properties, and some other different values.

Kotlin, on the other hand, does not have enum.

2 – Tuples

Tuples basically come with structured data that has multiple parts of an ordered value. They usually work in relational databases, which help the developers to facilitate interactions between various components.

In Swift, you can use Tuples for defining component-based interfaces. But Kotlin does not support any type of Tuples.

3 – Delegated Properties

Delegated Properties basically allow mobile app developers to send methods and citations from one class to another class.

Apart from this, Delegated Properties also allow in defining different properties of classes.

However, Delegated Properties are not available in Swift and so iOS app developers need to be content with the default properties only.

Kotlin, on the other hand, supports and allows Android app developers to use Delegated properties.

4 – Structs

Since Kotlin programming language works almost the same as Java, it does not offer any particular type of Structs.

Swift, on the other hand, does offer the iOS app developers to choose their preferred struct while developing a mobile app.

5 – Memory Management

Swift and Kotlin both have completely opposite approaches towards memory management.

Swift uses ARC (Automatic Reference Counting) while Kotlin uses the Garbage Collection method for memory management.

If we compare both approaches, the Automatic Reference Counting is actually more dependable and precise than the Garbage Collection method.

Future of Kotlin

Kotlin’s future certainly looks bright, especially ever since Kotlin received first-class support from Google.

But apart from Google’s support, Kotlin actually has a lot of plus points. For starters, it has a lower cost of development and maintenance, while offering a wide range of great features.

Overall, you can most certainly consider using Kotlin for Android app development.

Future of Swift

Unlike Kotlin, Swift had a lot of things to fix when it was first launched. But over the last few years, it has certainly become a much more mature programming language.

So, despite how many controversies you might have heard about Swift, we’re confident that Swift is indeed the right language to use for building iOS applications.

In fact, there are many giant companies that have already adopted Swift such as Facebook, Uber, Twitter, and Groupon to name just a few.

And by looking at their success stories, it looks like the Swift adoption will continue to grow in 2022 and beyond.

In a nutshell, you can definitely rely on Swift if you’re planning to build an iOS app in 2022.

Conclusion

So these are the main 5 key differences between Swift and Kotlin. And at present, both Kotlin and Swift looks stable and convenient to use for mobile app development.

If you still have any doubts though, you can always connect with our experts or leave your thoughts in the comment box below to get a quick response.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q:1 – Is Kotlin and Swift familiar?

Ans: Kotlin and Swift are kind of familiar because they resemble the same thing. For instance, both Kotlin and Swift are bridging the gap between Java and Objective C.

Q:2 – Is Kotlin better than Java?

Ans: Yes, Kotlin is indeed much better than Java for many reasons. For example, Kotlin has very well implemented documentation. Secondly, Kotlin provides better security, compatibility, syntax, functional programming, and some other things.

Q:3 – Does Kotlin have a future?

Ans: Yes and the main reason is that Google itself is becoming Kotlin-oriented, which is why many developers have already shifted towards building Android apps using Kotlin.

Q:4 – Which is better Swift or Objective C?

Ans: Swift is better. For starters, Objective C is 30+ years old and therefore it has more clunky syntax. Swift, on the other hand, is easier to learn and read and it also requires less code to develop iOS apps.