In the world of Linux we can find a large number of applications, both for general use, for example music players, image editors, among others, to entire ecosystems of apps dedicated to different areas (health, education, research, etc.).
On the user side, all of that sounds great, but when it comes to the other side of the coin, which is where developers come in, you don't always want an application or development to only target one platform or system when you want to reach the largest number of users.
In this case we will analyze SwiftUI and UIKit, which are the two most popular frameworks for the development on Apple platformse. Although these frameworks were created by Apple, each one is oriented towards a type of development and it is therefore necessary to know the characteristics, advantages and disadvantages of each one in order to make the best decision.
What is UIKit?
When talking about iOS development, UIKit is the first card on the table to take into account, since it has been the standard for a long time, which has positioned this framework as one of the most used by iOS developers.
UIKit has been around since the first version of iOS and is based on an imperative approach (where the developer must specify each individual step of building and modifying the interface), using the Model-View-Controller (MVC) design pattern, giving developers more granular control over every aspect of the interface.
Advantages of UIKit
- Maturity and trajectory: As already mentioned, UIKit has been around since the first version of iOS and has since evolved to the point of reaching a high degree of maturity, with robust functionalities and proven to be an ideal solution of efficiency and reliability for complex and high-performance applications.
- Support: Given the longevity of UIKit, this framework has extensive documentation and an active community that supports its use, providing solutions for almost any problem that may arise during development.
- Compatibility: When it comes to compatibility, UIKit is compatible with all iOS versions, making it ideal when it comes to older devices. This is because Apple has provided UIKit compatibility with each new iOS version. Furthermore, UIKit can work in conjunction with other Apple frameworks, as well as components and libraries that include a variety of functionalities.
- Control: UIKit is more detailed, giving developers efficient control over every aspect of the interface, and is ideal for complex customizations or handling advanced animations.
Disadvantages of UIKit
- Major work: Since UIKit allows for more control, this leads to more boilerplate code (necessary code) being required to achieve the desired design and behavior in tasks. This, in turn, translates into increased complexity due to the larger volume of code and when it comes to large-scale projects, this can make the project harder to maintain and evolve, which leads us to the next disadvantage.
- Complexity: Being a framework based on an imperative approach, this can make the code more difficult to follow as the project evolves and grows, which can translate into higher resource costs.
- Learning curve: Another big problem with UIKit's imperative nature is that it requires a deeper understanding of the application flow, as all the stages must be defined and developers must follow a series of detailed steps to build the interface, which can be more challenging to master and for a novice developer, this can be their worst nightmare.
What is SwiftUI?
SwiftUI was designed to simplify interface development, improving productivity by offering real-time previews. This allows developers to see changes instantly without the need to compile or run the application, thus facilitating a more agile and efficient workflow.
Unlike UIKit, SwiftUI is a newer framework, introduced by Apple in 2019, that is characterized by its focus on declarative syntax, where developers simply describe what they want the program to do and the system handles the details of how to accomplish it. This is in contrast to UIKit, which requires developers to explicitly specify how each action or process should be executed in the user interface.
Advantages of SwiftUI
- Declarative syntax: Without a doubt, one of the great advantages of SwiftUI is that it is easier to understand for novice developers by focusing on how you want the interface to look and not on how to make it. This reduces code complexity and improves readability, making it easier to understand and follow the code.
- Real-time preview: Given its design, SwiftUI allows developers to see the changes made to the interface, which greatly facilitates work both in the design and display of the application on various platforms and modes, in addition to this resulting in great time savings.
- Less code: Thanks to its declarative syntax, the amount of code needed to build a user interface is significantly reduced with fewer lines and simplifying the process for making modifications or adding new features.
- Integration and compatibility: SwiftUI enables faster, simpler, and more responsive development by supporting multiple Apple devices (iOS, macOS, watchOS, and tvOS) by automatically adapting to different screen sizes and device orientations. It also has easy integration with the Swift language and, unlike UIKit, it features support for dark mode, accessibility, and localization.
Disadvantages of SwiftUI
- Compatibility: As we mentioned, SwiftUI is relatively young and this small detail makes it a serious disadvantage. It is important to note that SwiftUI requires iOS 13 or later, which limits its use to newer devices.
- Less resources and support: Another disadvantage that arises due to SwiftUI's short time is that the resources available, as well as information, tutorials and third-party libraries available are limited compared to what can be found available for UIKit.
- Less control: Since SwiftUI does not require much developer intervention compared to UIKit (where there is more control), this is a disadvantage when dealing with complex layouts and large data sets, and it is limited in terms of advanced UI features and animations.
When to Use UIKit?
By comparing SwiftUI and UIKit, we can get an idea of ​​where it is convenient to use each one. And that is that in the case of UIKit which is more robust, will always be more suitable for complex interfaces with advanced functionality and/or that rely heavily on third-party libraries and frameworks as well as legacy projects with existing UIKit codebase or that require compatibility with older iOS versions.
Finally, it is important to emphasize that UIKit is strictly limited to iOS, which means it is not compatible with other Apple devices.
When to Use SwiftUI?
Are you looking for how to create a swiftui app? Before that, it is necessary to know if this solution is the most recommendable or not for your particular case. In the case of SwiftUI, its use is recommended when targeting multiple Apple devices, as well as for recent iOS versions (13 and above). Another point to take into account with SwiftUI is when greater simplicity is required in the project, as well as modern user interface features and animations.
In a nutshell, SwiftUI is the perfect candidate when it comes to Simple and modern applications that target the different Apple devices, plus SwiftUI offers many more visual resources than UIKit.
Conclusion
Although SwiftUI is aimed at modern development and UIKit is the old reliable, choosing one or the other depends mainly on defining and knowing the specific needs of each project, as well as the preferences of the developer.
And although each framework has its pros and cons, it is important to take into account that both can be used to take advantage of the benefits of each, since they can be unified to create robust applications with modern designs, having greater control and customization.