If you have written code before then, you’ve more than likely heard about Apple’s Swift, a programming language created by Apple allowing developers to create apps for iOS systems. It has seen an increase in popularity with developers using those Open-Source Libraries to create apps for various platforms.
Swift’s main benefit is that it helps you build complex apps in a fast manner. There are many open-source Swift Libraries that you can use, tapping into their many resources, when creating your own app.
These libraries, which have been written in Swift, can be found on GitHub. There are five broad categories are:
- iOS
- Mac
- Linux
- Web
- Other
While Swift continues to increase in popularity and grow as a language, more open-source libraries were created to take advantage of libraries and frameworks that were already set in place.
It has a great offering of APIs that you can use; test, data, images, and more. However, sometimes you need something that they don’t have, which is why third-party libraries are available.
Top open-source libraries
SnapKit
Snap kit allows iOS developers to change layout constraints that have been automatically set by using elegant and shortcode. It reduces layout logic, so it is only a few lines of code while keeping the readability and understanding.
Firebase
Developing back-end code can be a difficult process for mobile developers, with them having to spend a lot of time and productivity to get it right. Firebase offers excellent alternative back-end support by reducing the time it takes to back-end code. It can also cut server expenses while allowing you to manipulate databases in real-time.
SwiftLint
SwiftLint is the library you go to for any debugging and cleaning source code needs, meaning it uses the standards for syntax and practice approaches that you can use to make sure your own Swift codebase is a constant level of high quality. Strict code-style guidelines will be easier to maintain and you’ll be able to extend these projects too, making it beginner user friendly.
Alamofire
AlammoFire is a user-friendly open-source library that encapsulates a bunch of APIs such as; URLSession and URLSessionTask. They also offer a bunch of features that make it easier to interact with modern HTTP Network app development.
Kingfisher
Kingfisher offers you the ability to download images starting from a URL and cache them on your device’s storage or disc. This can make your app more responsive faster and uses less data for the user, saving them money.
Realm
Core data can be an expensive cost to learn, making it a difficult task to utilize in Swift. Many developers believe it should be avoided and other management systems used instead. Realm gives better query rates, easier data administration and ease of use, giving them more advantages over an older storage system or database. They aim to replace CoreData and SQLite for iOS app development.
Because of this, Realm has increased in popularity, making it a great open-source with well-written references and simply to learn interface for developers.
Moya
Moya is a library that works with other open-source libraries, such as Alamofire, RxSwift, and ModelMapper, to make network-related concerns easier to handle. It sits at the top of the networking layer and is usually used by programmers. By connecting to the mentioned libraries, connecting and working with APIs is faster, making any difficulties over before they even start. However, this open-source library isn’t that commonly used amongst the developing community, so proceed with caution when using it.
Vapor
If you want to learn back-end programming without having to learn New Language, then Vapor is the open-source library for you. It can help develop server-side back-end programming with easy syntax that is quick to learn and practice, providing familiarity since it is built on Swift and Xcode.
RxSwift
RxSwift, along with RxCocoa, are two Functional Reactive Programmes that can be used in numerous amount of languages and platforms. Their main function allows them to always observe and listen to asynchronous actions from events or data streams.
Charts
Charts is a Swift library that helps you visualize the data, eliminating the tediousness or limiting way of analyzing data in tables, making it a wonderful alternative library. A bonus is that it will also improve the aesthetics of your mobile app.
