A few years ago, Swift made the top 10 in the monthly TIOBE Index ranking of popular programming languages. Apple developed Swift in 2014 for Linux and Mac applications.

An open-source programming language that is easy to learn, Swift supports almost everything from the programming language Objective-C. Swift requires fewer coding skills compared with other programming languages, and it can be used with IBM Swift Sandbox and IBM Bluemix. Swift is used in popular iOS apps like WordPress, Mozilla Firefox, SoundCloud, and even in the game Flappy Bird.

Level: Beginner to intermediate

Skills Needed: Willingness to spend time reading tutorials (which are widely available); no prior experience with programming languages required

Platform: Mobile (Apple iOS apps, specifically)

Popularity Among Programmers: Gaining in popularity, especially among Apple iOS application developers

Benefits:
Relatively easy to learn
Clean syntax
Less code
Faster than comparable programming languages
Open source

Downsides: Still a young language; poor interoperability with third party tools; lacks support for earlier versions of iOS

Degree of Use: Used extensively for creating iOS apps used on the iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch