Objective-C vs Red
When comparing Objective-C vs Red, the Slant community recommends Red for most people. In the question“What is the best programming language to learn first?” Red is ranked 40th while Objective-C is ranked 74th. The most important reason people chose Red is:
Other languages have complex, multi-step setups that beginners often get stuck on. Red has no installer, no setup, no dependencies*, just a single small (~1MB) command-line executable with both the compiler and repl. On Windows, you don't even have to launch executable from the command line--it has a GUI-console.
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Pros
Pro Well Documented
Objective-C's documentation exists on Apple's website, and explains language features in detail.
Pro Develop Apple applications
Similar to C# and Java, but used to develop native applications for Apple hardware.
Pro Objective-C supports an open style of dynamic binding
A style that can accommodate a simple architecture for interactive user interfaces.
Pro Simple toolchain
Other languages have complex, multi-step setups that beginners often get stuck on. Red has no installer, no setup, no dependencies*, just a single small (~1MB) command-line executable with both the compiler and repl. On Windows, you don't even have to launch executable from the command line--it has a GUI-console.
Pro Very simple syntax
Red syntax is a lot like Rebol. It's easier than most languages for beginners to pick up.
Pro Both low and high-level
Red has low enough access to do systems programming, but it's expressive enough for high-level scripting.
Pro Low cognitive load
Red has very simple syntax that's easy to learn. It gets out of your way and lets you think about the problem instead, enhancing productivity.
Cons
Con Odd Syntax
Objective C's syntax is very alien to other languages. Learning Objective-C first will fail to expose you to a syntax style that would be relatively familiar in almost any other language.
Con Might as well learn Swift
Swift works almost anywhere Objective C does, and it was designed to replace Objective C.
Con One of the biggest mistakes ever.
It was meant to be one of the C-style languages, but has such bad syntax design it actually is the odd duck.
Con Apple-centric and obsolete
Con Tied into Apple's eco-system.
Con More Technical
To be able to do basic tasks in Objective-C requires a strong understanding of programming.
Con Requires Understanding of C-language.
Objective-C is built on top of C, and as such, requires at least a basic understanding of how to program in C.
Con Not production ready
Red is still under development and not considered stable.
Con Still in beta
It mostly works. It's good enough for building usable applications, but some planned features are missing.