4 ms·

With Objective-C apps, it used to be even better, in startup and in app size. I think you can still get similar app size if you make a pure Obj-C app today.

by novok 7y ago

mrtksn 7y ago
Before Swift become a thing I look at Objective-C but it was so irritating that I stuck with JavaScript. It's probably faster but what difference it would make to open the app faster than what the user can perceive? I can use static images to give the impression that the app is already running, which is recommended by Apple anyway since the user won't be able to react before the app is fully loaded anyway.
saagarjha 7y ago
On modern versions of iOS, the runtime ships with the system so even your Swift app can be hundreds of kilobytes to a few megabytes.
- novok 7y ago
  The nature of swift itself, similar to C++, makes it create bigger binaries compared to equivalent Objective-C code. So even with no runtime included, they will still be bigger on average.
  - saagarjha 7y ago
    Eh, that depends on your code.
vbezhenar 7y ago
What's the status of Objective C language today? Is it fully supported forever or is it in legacy status waiting for its support to be dropped in the future?
- dep_b 7y ago
  It will be fully supported probably forever since Apple wrote a ton of their own systems in it and it has perfect integration with C and C++. The language is basically done at this point, any new features will probably be aimed at language interop.
  - vbezhenar 7y ago
    Thanks. I'm not a vivid iOS developer, but I'm writing some apps sometimes. Swift is so fast moving target that I don't want to pursue it, while Objective C is a language that I know and actually like. It's like C vs C++, I learned C++ 15 years ago, but it's completely different since then, so my knowledge is basically useless without solid investments, while C is almost the same as it was 30 years ago.

With Objective-C apps, it used to be even better, in startup and in app size. I think you can still get similar app size if you make a pure Obj-C app today.

by novok 7y ago

With Objective-C apps, it used to be even better, in startup and in app size. I think you can still get similar app size if you make a pure Obj-C app today.

mrtksn 7y ago

Before Swift become a thing I look at Objective-C but it was so irritating that I stuck with JavaScript. It's probably faster but what difference it would make to open the app faster than what the user can perceive? I can use static images to give the impression that the app is already running, which is recommended by Apple anyway since the user won't be able to react before the app is fully loaded anyway.

saagarjha 7y ago

On modern versions of iOS, the runtime ships with the system so even your Swift app can be hundreds of kilobytes to a few megabytes.

novok 7y ago
The nature of swift itself, similar to C++, makes it create bigger binaries compared to equivalent Objective-C code. So even with no runtime included, they will still be bigger on average.
- saagarjha 7y ago
  Eh, that depends on your code.

vbezhenar 7y ago

What's the status of Objective C language today? Is it fully supported forever or is it in legacy status waiting for its support to be dropped in the future?

dep_b 7y ago
It will be fully supported probably forever since Apple wrote a ton of their own systems in it and it has perfect integration with C and C++. The language is basically done at this point, any new features will probably be aimed at language interop.
- vbezhenar 7y ago
  Thanks. I'm not a vivid iOS developer, but I'm writing some apps sometimes. Swift is so fast moving target that I don't want to pursue it, while Objective C is a language that I know and actually like. It's like C vs C++, I learned C++ 15 years ago, but it's completely different since then, so my knowledge is basically useless without solid investments, while C is almost the same as it was 30 years ago.