StackShareStackShare
Follow on
StackShare

Discover and share technology stacks from companies around the world.

Follow on

© 2025 StackShare. All rights reserved.

Product

  • Stacks
  • Tools
  • Feed

Company

  • About
  • Contact

Legal

  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of Service
  1. Stackups
  2. Application & Data
  3. Languages
  4. Languages
  5. MATLAB vs Swift

MATLAB vs Swift

OverviewDecisionsComparisonAlternatives

Overview

Swift
Swift
Stacks21.9K
Followers13.6K
Votes1.3K
MATLAB
MATLAB
Stacks1.1K
Followers702
Votes37

MATLAB vs Swift: What are the differences?

Introduction

In this comparison, we will distinguish the key differences between two programming languages, MATLAB and Swift.

  1. Syntax and readability: MATLAB uses a more streamlined syntax with a focus on mathematical computations, making it easier for engineers and scientists to analyze data and develop algorithms. On the other hand, Swift is a general-purpose language with a syntax that is more complex but offers more flexibility in diverse fields of application development.

  2. Platform compatibility: MATLAB is primarily designed for numerical computing on desktops, whereas Swift is widely used for developing applications across different Apple platforms such as iOS, macOS, watchOS, and tvOS. Swift offers better compatibility with Apple's ecosystem compared to MATLAB.

  3. Type system: MATLAB is dynamically typed, meaning that variables are automatically assigned a data type at runtime. In contrast, Swift is statically typed, requiring explicit declaration of variable types that are checked at compile time, leading to fewer runtime errors and faster execution.

  4. Community and support: MATLAB has a well-established user community and extensive documentation for engineers and scientists, providing comprehensive support for users. Swift, being a relatively newer language, has a growing community but not as vast and mature as MATLAB's community.

  5. Performance: MATLAB is optimized for numerical computations, offering high performance for matrix operations and scientific computations. Swift, being a general-purpose language, may not match the performance of MATLAB in these specific areas but can be highly optimized for application development across various platforms.

  6. Learning curve: MATLAB is easier to learn for beginners due to its simple syntax and focus on numeric computation, making it a preferred choice for students and researchers in technical fields. Swift, with its complex syntax and broader range of applications, may have a steeper learning curve for beginners.

In Summary, MATLAB is tailored for numerical computing with simpler syntax and high performance, while Swift is a versatile language suitable for application development in the Apple ecosystem with stricter type system and platform compatibility.

Share your Stack

Help developers discover the tools you use. Get visibility for your team's tech choices and contribute to the community's knowledge.

View Docs
CLI (Node.js)
or
Manual

Advice on Swift, MATLAB

Hüseyin
Hüseyin

Student

Jan 7, 2022

Needs adviceonFlutterFlutterPythonPythonSwiftSwift

Hello, I am still a student and would like to ask a question. Currently, I am developing in mobile development with Flutter in the frontend and Python in the backend part. Right now I have to make a choice about developing a mobile app or developing a backend to progress more professionally. My questions are as follows:

  1. If I prefer the mobile application area, will I only work with the Ui/Ux developer with the front-end and code the designs in Swift Kotlin languages, am I responsible for the back-end software?

  2. I have a product that generates new ideas so I like to control the development and work there because the backend is the brain, but are they independent from each other in the backend mobile application? Is the mobile app developer responsible for the backend software?

  3. I don't like graphic design because I don't like it if it's not perfect and I get stressed. Am I responsible for the graphic design in the mobile app?

  4. Is a mobile app developer also a backend developer?

I know these are very simple questions, but they are very important to me. Thanks for your answers.

139k views139k
Comments
Gabor
Gabor

CTO at momento.

Aug 23, 2021

Decided

As a startup, we need the maximum flexibility and the ability to reach our customers in a more suitable way. So a hybrid application approach is the best because it allows you to develop a cross-platform application in a unique codebase. The choice behind Ionic is Angular, I think that angular is the best framework to develop a complex application that needs a lot of service interaction, its modularity forces you (the developer) to write the code in the correct way, so it can be maintainable and reusable.

209k views209k
Comments
Adit
Adit

Founder at Stardust

Oct 22, 2021

Needs adviceonRailsRailsRustRustSwiftSwift

Hey there, we are looking to develop our own layer 1 blockchain. We're splitting the responsibilities for origination, clearing, and settlement across three independent but cooperating node networks. We've gotten our Proof of Concept up using Ruby on Rails for the nodes, you can see it as the attached link. So far, so good. Now we are looking to convert it into a distributable and are trying to figure out which language is the best for this.

Essentially our needs from the language are: solid networking tools and speed, very fast execution of basic actions, some parallel execution, and able to compile the end product into an easy to distribute and use package for end users.

I was learning Rust, but I have a healthy amount of experience with Swift and right now, it's only me coding. I've only done iOS coding, but have built a fintech app from scratch that's now in the app store so I'm pretty familiar with the language and its benefits. Haven't experimented with Vapor or any of the application development tools, and I wanted to know if it is a crazy idea to develop a blockchain node in Swift instead.

132k views132k
Comments

Detailed Comparison

Swift
Swift
MATLAB
MATLAB

Writing code is interactive and fun, the syntax is concise yet expressive, and apps run lightning-fast. Swift is ready for your next iOS and OS X project — or for addition into your current app — because Swift code works side-by-side with Objective-C.

Using MATLAB, you can analyze data, develop algorithms, and create models and applications. The language, tools, and built-in math functions enable you to explore multiple approaches and reach a solution faster than with spreadsheets or traditional programming languages, such as C/C++ or Java.

Statistics
Stacks
21.9K
Stacks
1.1K
Followers
13.6K
Followers
702
Votes
1.3K
Votes
37
Pros & Cons
Pros
  • 259
    Ios
  • 180
    Elegant
  • 126
    Not Objective-C
  • 107
    Backed by apple
  • 93
    Type inference
Cons
  • 6
    Must own a mac
  • 2
    Memory leaks are not uncommon
  • 1
    Very irritatingly picky about things that’s
  • 1
    Its classes compile to roughly 300 lines of assembly
  • 1
    Is a lot more effort than lua to make simple functions
Pros
  • 20
    Simulink
  • 5
    Functions, statements, plots, directory navigation easy
  • 5
    Model based software development
  • 3
    S-Functions
  • 2
    REPL
Cons
  • 2
    Parameter-value pairs syntax to pass arguments clunky
  • 2
    Does not support named function arguments
  • 2
    Doesn't allow unpacking tuples/arguments lists with *
  • 1
    Costs a lot
Integrations
Cocoa Touch (iOS)
Cocoa Touch (iOS)
No integrations available

What are some alternatives to Swift, MATLAB?

JavaScript

JavaScript

JavaScript is most known as the scripting language for Web pages, but used in many non-browser environments as well such as node.js or Apache CouchDB. It is a prototype-based, multi-paradigm scripting language that is dynamic,and supports object-oriented, imperative, and functional programming styles.

Python

Python

Python is a general purpose programming language created by Guido Van Rossum. Python is most praised for its elegant syntax and readable code, if you are just beginning your programming career python suits you best.

PHP

PHP

Fast, flexible and pragmatic, PHP powers everything from your blog to the most popular websites in the world.

Ruby

Ruby

Ruby is a language of careful balance. Its creator, Yukihiro “Matz” Matsumoto, blended parts of his favorite languages (Perl, Smalltalk, Eiffel, Ada, and Lisp) to form a new language that balanced functional programming with imperative programming.

Java

Java

Java is a programming language and computing platform first released by Sun Microsystems in 1995. There are lots of applications and websites that will not work unless you have Java installed, and more are created every day. Java is fast, secure, and reliable. From laptops to datacenters, game consoles to scientific supercomputers, cell phones to the Internet, Java is everywhere!

Golang

Golang

Go is expressive, concise, clean, and efficient. Its concurrency mechanisms make it easy to write programs that get the most out of multicore and networked machines, while its novel type system enables flexible and modular program construction. Go compiles quickly to machine code yet has the convenience of garbage collection and the power of run-time reflection. It's a fast, statically typed, compiled language that feels like a dynamically typed, interpreted language.

HTML5

HTML5

HTML5 is a core technology markup language of the Internet used for structuring and presenting content for the World Wide Web. As of October 2014 this is the final and complete fifth revision of the HTML standard of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). The previous version, HTML 4, was standardised in 1997.

C#

C#

C# (pronounced "See Sharp") is a simple, modern, object-oriented, and type-safe programming language. C# has its roots in the C family of languages and will be immediately familiar to C, C++, Java, and JavaScript programmers.

Scala

Scala

Scala is an acronym for “Scalable Language”. This means that Scala grows with you. You can play with it by typing one-line expressions and observing the results. But you can also rely on it for large mission critical systems, as many companies, including Twitter, LinkedIn, or Intel do. To some, Scala feels like a scripting language. Its syntax is concise and low ceremony; its types get out of the way because the compiler can infer them.

Elixir

Elixir

Elixir leverages the Erlang VM, known for running low-latency, distributed and fault-tolerant systems, while also being successfully used in web development and the embedded software domain.

Related Comparisons

Bootstrap
Materialize

Bootstrap vs Materialize

Laravel
Django

Django vs Laravel vs Node.js

Bootstrap
Foundation

Bootstrap vs Foundation vs Material UI

Node.js
Spring Boot

Node.js vs Spring-Boot

Liquibase
Flyway

Flyway vs Liquibase