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JavaScript VS Swift

Compare JavaScript VS Swift and see what are their differences

JavaScript logo JavaScript

Lightweight, interpreted, object-oriented language with first-class functions

Swift logo Swift

Swift is a general-purpose, multi-paradigm, compiled programming language developed by Apple Inc. for iOS, macOS, watchOS, tvOS, Linux and z/OS.
  • JavaScript Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-08-05

We recommend LibHunt JavaScript for discovery and comparisons of trending JavaScript projects.

  • Swift Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-07-24

We recommend LibHunt Swift for discovery and comparisons of trending Swift projects.

JavaScript features and specs

  • Wide Browser Support
    JavaScript is supported by all modern web browsers without the need for any plugins, making it highly versatile for client-side scripting.
  • Asynchronous Programming
    JavaScript supports asynchronous programming with features like callbacks, Promises, and async/await, which helps in efficiently handling tasks such as HTTP requests.
  • Rich Ecosystem and Libraries
    The JavaScript ecosystem includes a vast amount of libraries and frameworks like React, Angular, Vue, and Node.js, which streamline development processes.
  • Community Support
    JavaScript has a large and active community, providing extensive resources, documentation, and forums for troubleshooting and development advice.
  • Event-Driven
    The language is inherently event-driven, making it suitable for developing interactive web applications that react to user inputs.
  • Full-Stack Development
    With the advent of Node.js, JavaScript can be used for both client-side and server-side development, enabling full-stack development using a single language.

Possible disadvantages of JavaScript

  • Security Issues
    Being an interpreted language that runs in the browser, JavaScript code is visible to the user, making it susceptible to security risks such as Cross-Site Scripting (XSS).
  • Browser Compatibility
    While JavaScript itself is widely supported, different browsers may implement JavaScript functions and standards differently, leading to compatibility issues.
  • Performance
    JavaScript is generally slower than compiled languages such as C++ or Java. Heavy computations can lead to performance bottlenecks.
  • Single Inheritance
    JavaScript uses prototypal inheritance instead of classical inheritance, which can be confusing for developers coming from object-oriented programming backgrounds.
  • Dynamic Typing
    JavaScript's dynamic typing can lead to runtime errors that are hard to debug, as variable types are checked at runtime rather than during compilation.
  • Fragmentation
    The ecosystem has many competing libraries, frameworks, and tools, which can make it overwhelming for developers to choose the right technologies for their projects.

Swift features and specs

  • Performance
    Swift is designed to be high-performance, often running faster than Objective-C due to its modern language constructs and optimized LLVM compiler.
  • Safety
    Swift includes features like optionals, type inference, and safe memory management to reduce common programming errors and crashes.
  • Readability
    Swift's syntax is clean and less cluttered, making it easier to read and maintain.
  • Interoperability
    Swift is fully interoperable with Objective-C, allowing for easy integration with existing iOS and macOS projects.
  • Modern language features
    Swift includes modern programming concepts such as closures, generics, and tuples which can help developers write expressive and efficient code.
  • Memory management
    Swift uses Automatic Reference Counting (ARC), which helps in efficient memory management without requiring manual intervention from the developer.
  • Active community and support
    Swift has a large, active community and strong support from Apple, ensuring continuous evolution and community-driven improvements.

Possible disadvantages of Swift

  • Newness
    Being relatively new compared to languages like Objective-C, Swift is still evolving, which might lead to occasional stability issues or breaking changes with new updates.
  • Limited legacy support
    Swift does not work with versions of iOS and macOS older than iOS 7 and OS X 10.9, limiting its use in maintaining really old applications.
  • Learning curve
    For developers accustomed to Objective-C or other languages, there is a learning curve associated with familiarizing themselves with Swift’s new syntax and features.
  • Smaller pool of third-party libraries
    Although growing, the ecosystem of third-party libraries for Swift is still smaller compared to more mature languages, potentially limiting immediate availability of tools.
  • Binary compatibility
    Binary compatibility issues can arise, especially when working with a mixed codebase of Swift and Objective-C, requiring extra caution during implementation.
  • Tooling maturity
    Some of the development tools and environments, while robust, can still be less mature compared to the well-established Objective-C tooling.

JavaScript videos

Learn JavaScript in 7 minutes | Create Interactive Websites | Code in 5

More videos:

  • Review - Top 10 JavaScript Interview Questions
  • Review - Learn JavaScript in 12 Minutes

Swift videos

Honest Review of Swift and First Year Pay

More videos:

  • Review - Maruti Suzuki Swift - Hindi Review - Autoportal
  • Review - 2018 Maruti Swift Review - Still Fun To Drive | Faisal Khan

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to JavaScript and Swift)
Programming Language
66 66%
34% 34
OOP
81 81%
19% 19
Generic Programming Language
Programming
0 0%
100% 100

User comments

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Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare JavaScript and Swift

JavaScript Reviews

Top 10 Rust Alternatives
In simple words, the main goal of JavaScript is to develop web pages and is used for authentication procedures. Some of the pros of using JavaScript as an alternative to Rust are follows.
Top 15 jQuery Alternatives To Know
ExtJS, as the name suggests, stands for Extended JavaScript. As an offering from Sencha, it depends on YahooUserInterface. ExtJS helps in creating data intensified HTML5 apps with JavaScript. It consists of a huge collection of customizable and high-performance widgets that assist in creating cross-platform mobile and web apps, for any type of modernized device.
The 10 Best Programming Languages to Learn Today
JavaScript skills are always in high demand – most of the world's top websites and apps rely on JavaScript in one way or another. Plus, JavaScript is a great springboard for learning more complex programming languages.
Source: ict.gov.ge

Swift Reviews

Top 10 Rust Alternatives
Swift also stands to be among the general-purpose computer languages used to generate codes. The basics of this language are based on a safer approach for the users.
The 10 Best Programming Languages to Learn Today
With the growing popularity of Apple operating systems and applications, having Swift programming skills under your belt is a wise investment. Swift shares some similar characteristics with programming languages Ruby and Python.
Source: ict.gov.ge

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Swift seems to be more popular. It has been mentiond 30 times since March 2021. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

JavaScript mentions (0)

We have not tracked any mentions of JavaScript yet. Tracking of JavaScript recommendations started around Mar 2021.

Swift mentions (30)

  • Migrating Away from Rust
    It surely is, according to Apple's own documentation. > Swift is a successor to the C, C++, and Objective-C languages. It includes low-level primitives such as types, flow control, and operators. It also provides object-oriented features such as classes, protocols, and generics. -- https://developer.apple.com/swift/ If developers have such a big problem glueing C libraries into Java JNI, or Panama, then maybe game... - Source: Hacker News / 7 days ago
  • Apple's Darwin OS and XNU Kernel Deep Dive
    Yes, Apple themselves, apparently folks wanting Apple to use Rust don't read Apple's documentation or watch talks done by Apple compiler developers. > Swift was designed from the outset to be safer than C-based languages, and eliminates entire classes of unsafe code. -- https://www.swift.org/about/ > Swift is a successor to the C, C++, and Objective-C languages. It includes low-level primitives such as types, flow... - Source: Hacker News / 30 days ago
  • The Top Programming Languages to Learn in 2024
    Swift is Apple's programming language for iOS, macOS, watchOS, and tvOS app development. It's known for its performance and safety, making it a great choice for developing apps in the Apple ecosystem. Explore Swift here. - Source: dev.to / 11 months ago
  • Swift was always going to be part of the OS
    The raisons d'être between the CLR (and C#) and Swift are entirely different. Apple has explicitly set out to adopt swift as a successor language to C, Objective-C, C++, and Objective-C++[0][1]. This stands in stark contrast to Microsoft's vision for the CLR, which was… to be a better Java, more or less? (Does anyone actually know what the .NET initiative was all about? Microsoft went absolutely ham on it... - Source: Hacker News / over 1 year ago
  • Local Dev Meetup
    What part of the coding universe are you interested in? Swift? React? Fission Ecosystem? Source: over 1 year ago
View more

What are some alternatives?

When comparing JavaScript and Swift, you can also consider the following products

Python - Python is a clear and powerful object-oriented programming language, comparable to Perl, Ruby, Scheme, or Java.

Kotlin - Statically typed Programming Language targeting JVM and JavaScript

Java - A concurrent, class-based, object-oriented, language specifically designed to have as few implementation dependencies as possible

C++ - Has imperative, object-oriented and generic programming features, while also providing the facilities for low level memory manipulation

Rust - A safe, concurrent, practical language

Elixir - Dynamic, functional language designed for building scalable and maintainable applications