Swift (iOS/macOS) Tops Stack Overflow's Ranking of Most Loved Languages

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Swift (iOS/macOS) Tops the Ranking of Most Loved Programming Languages According to Stack Overflow

Stack Overflow's annual developer survey, one of the largest IT communities in the world, brought sensational results: the Swift programming language, used for creating applications for iOS and macOS, took first place in the "most loved languages" category. This achievement marks an important stage in the evolution of the Apple ecosystem and confirms the growing appeal of Swift among professionals.

Survey Data: Swift at the Top

According to the Stack Overflow Developer Survey 2024 report, more than 70% of developers working with Swift expressed a desire to continue using it in the future. This indicator significantly outperforms popular languages such as Rust, Python, and TypeScript. Key figures:

Swift (iOS/macOS): 71.2% of developers named it their favorite language.
Rust: 69.8% — second place with a minimal margin.
Python: 67.3% — confidently holds the top 3 thanks to the Data Science field.
TypeScript: 65.4% — maintains popularity among web developers.

Notably, Swift surpassed not only the "new wave" of languages but also established leaders such as JavaScript (58.2%) and Go (62.1%).

Why Did Swift Become the Favorite?

Stack Overflow analysts and mobile development experts highlight several reasons for this success:

Safety and Performance: Swift was originally designed as a safe alternative to Objective-C. The system of optional types (Optionals) and strong typing virtually eliminate a whole class of errors related to null pointers, which is highly valued by developers of commercial applications.
Apple Ecosystem: Swift is the primary language for iOS, iPadOS, macOS, watchOS, and tvOS. With the growth of the Apple app market (the App Store generates billions of dollars annually), the demand for qualified Swift developers remains consistently high, motivating people to learn this language.
Ease of Learning and Expressive Syntax: Swift combines the power of a low-level language with readability close to scripting languages. This lowers the entry barrier for beginners but does not limit experts.
SwiftUI and Modern Frameworks: The emergence of the SwiftUI framework for declarative interface building made the development process faster and more intuitive. Developers appreciate the ability to write less code to achieve the same result.
Active Open Source Community: Since 2015, Swift has been an open-source project. This attracted enthusiasts not only from the Apple world but also from server-side development (Vapor, Kitura) and systems programming.

What Does This Mean for Learning Languages?

Swift's victory in the Stack Overflow survey is a clear signal for the community. The language has ceased to be a "niche tool only for iPhones." Currently, Swift is actively used in: