UI frameworks have always been central to the architecture of mobile apps. Starting with iOS 13, Apple is using the new SwiftUI framework. It is gradually replacing UIKit, which was actively used earlier. The release of SwiftUI has received a lot of attention, claiming that it will completely replace the more complex and slower UIKit in record time.
Fully based on SwiftUI software, it is really simpler, more streamlined, and cross-platform. While UIKit is much bulkier. But is everything so simple?
UIKit: old but gold
UIKit was presented in July 2013, and in just a year it reached version 2.5. Initially, the framework was conceived as modern, fast, and modular. The framework is made using less and some mixins. UIKit has a completely separate core from the template styles. Convenient variables allow beginners to quickly navigate and customize the appearance of the application for themselves. There is also a handy basic visual style editor that permits you to get a rather acceptable result.
Pros
· It enables you to draw up clear project documentation for the quick and high-quality introduction of a new specialist into work, if necessary.
· It is designed in LESS for writing well-structured, extensible code that is easy to maintain.
· It offers a set of components that are responsive and allow consistent and conflict-free naming conventions.
· It provides you to extend the base style with themes and is easy to quickly customize to create an authoring style for your application.
· It allows for a consistent experience across phones and tablets and PCs.
Cons
· The user interface is quite easy to use but has a lot of nuances in the settings.
· It only provides a set of components that match your chosen user interface.
· It has a long way off matching components of different interface styles. This can delay the process and increase its final cost of the app.
· He offers a separate system for each client, project, and team, respectively, each new project requires additional time to get acquainted with the details.
Is SwiftUI really so progressive?
Swift UI is a new framework developed by Apple, written in Swift, designed to declaratively describe UI in code. SwiftUI assumes that the description of the structure of View is entirely in code. Moreover, Apple offers us a declarative style of writing this code.
Pros
· It's simple to learn and moreover UIKit compatible with the UI Hosting Controller.
· It lets you feel free with the app interface. The user can select many themes from the list.
· It makes it possible to use mechanisms like reactive programming, ObjectBinding, BindableObject, and even Combine frameworks.
· It enables you to apply real-time preview. This reduces the time spent on the application.
· It does not require Interface Builder, substituting it with the Canvas interactive interface compiler. This gives you the right to automate the formation of the visual part of the application.
· It doesn't crash the application unless you renew the @IBOutlet link with the variable. SwiftUI displays storyboards with code, which eliminates conflicts due to synchronous use of the same project by a development team.
Cons
· It only maintains iOS 13 and Xcode 11, not working on devices with earlier iOS versions.
· It is fairly new, so solving complex problems with assistance can be difficult.
· It prevents you from clearly seeing the view hierarchy in Xcode Previews.
Conclusion
The distinction between UIKit and SwiftUI lies primarily in their lifetime. If the UIKit framework saw the world with the announcement of iOS 2.0, then only the newest versions of iOS work on SwiftUI.
UIKit can give SwiftUI a head start in terms of durability, but, on the other hand, SwiftUI is developing intensively, and gets more features every day. Fortunately, you can mix and match these two frameworks for added value during app development.
