... I probably found the Objective-C code easier to write, partly because of Xcode support and partly (if I'm honest) because it lets me do more dumb/unsafe things, which should probably be discouraged.
That same argument was used in the '80s by Pascal proponents against C.
Would the software we use today be better if it all were written in Pascal instead of C? Yes, there would certainly be less buffer overflow exploits... But also less power and features. C was simply more suited to building complex/powerful software than most other languages at the time. Can you imagine Linux in Pascal?
The way I feel about Swift is that it's a better C++ combined with some of the didactic/patronizing aspects of Pascal. That's probably a fine language for some uses, but I wish they had designed a better Objective-C instead.
The Linux Philosophy of a kernel that runs on everything from a super computer to a smartphone is sort of misguided I think. You can write much smaller and potentially faster kernels if you focus on one architecture and use case, see for example the Oberon project (it uses a pascal descendant for its system language, also called Oberon) or the Mesa/Cedar system at Xerox Parc. With time I'm sure that kernel designs like the Singularity OS one will take over: Invent a systems programming language that allows for better static analysis and verification of driver protocols. Then run everything at ring 0 and identity mapped virtual address translation, with most of the applications written in memory safe languages or virtualized in app containers. That way context switches, which incur huge overhead, as well as heavy weight processes are a thing of the past.
That same argument was used in the '80s by Pascal proponents against C.
Would the software we use today be better if it all were written in Pascal instead of C? Yes, there would certainly be less buffer overflow exploits... But also less power and features. C was simply more suited to building complex/powerful software than most other languages at the time. Can you imagine Linux in Pascal?
The way I feel about Swift is that it's a better C++ combined with some of the didactic/patronizing aspects of Pascal. That's probably a fine language for some uses, but I wish they had designed a better Objective-C instead.