Secure coding with Kotlin & Swift
This week we’ve added new Kotlin & Swift Courses to the Security Labs catalog! The update includes 4-5 Kotlin (Android) labs and 4 Swift (iOS) labs that cover common mobile security topics such as secret storage, authorization, and custom URL handling.
Developers (and anyone curious about how to write secure code) can now try out hands-on exercises in real applications that help highlight coding mistakes that can lead to security vulnerabilities as well as steps to take to avoid and/or fix them.
What is Kotlin?
Kotlin is an open-source, statically typed programming language developed by JetBrains designed for JVM, Android, JavaScript, and Native. Kotlin combines object-oriented and functional constructs, focusing on interoperability, safety, clarity, and tooling support, and can be used for any kind of development, be it server-side, client-side web, or Android. It tends to be more concise, so if you’re looking to cut down on the number of lines of code, Kotlin may be a good choice for you.
What is Swift?
Swift is another open-source, intuitive programming language created by Apple primarily for building apps for iOS, Mac, Apple TV, and Apple Watch. Swift aims to simplify the writing and maintenance process for developers with a concise syntax built on the pillars of safety, speed, and an expressive nature.
Swift vs. Kotlin
Swift and Kotlin are both designed to make writing code easier than the traditional languages used for Android and iOS development and both run on Windows, Mac OSX, or Linux. There are a few key differences:
- Enums in Swift is considered more powerful than Kotlin
- There is not a data class in Swift
- Delegated classes and properties are missing in Swift
- Annotations are not allowed in Swift
- All the classes in Kotlin are final by default
- Kotlin does not have strut or passing data by value
- Kotlin does not offer Tuple
- Kotlin does not have a type alias
- Kotlin does not have a guard statement
Both of these languages are great options for developers looking for modern programming languages for mobile development.
Getting started with secure coding
Ready to start learning how to code in Kotlin and/or Swift? Try our hands-on secure coding tool, Veracode Security Labs. Start your free 14-day trial!
