Should I use Combine or async await?

Choosing between Combine and async/await in Swift depends on your specific use case and the nature of your project. Here are some considerations based on the content presented at WWDC:

Async/Await

• Ease of Use: Async/await syntax is straightforward and makes asynchronous code look and behave more like synchronous code. This can make your code easier to read and maintain.
• Concurrency: Swift's async/await is designed to handle concurrency efficiently. It allows tasks to suspend and yield the CPU to other tasks, which can improve performance in applications with many concurrent operations (A Swift Tour: Explore Swift’s features and design).
• Actors: Async/await works well with Swift's actor model, which helps manage state in a concurrent environment by serializing access to that state (A Swift Tour: Explore Swift’s features and design).

Combine

• Reactive Programming: Combine is a powerful framework for reactive programming. It allows you to work with streams of values over time, which can be very useful for tasks like handling user input, network responses, or other asynchronous data streams.
• Complex Data Flows: If your application requires complex data transformations and chaining of asynchronous operations, Combine provides a rich set of operators to handle these scenarios.
• Integration: Combine integrates well with other Apple frameworks like SwiftUI, making it a good choice if you are already using these technologies.

Testing

• Async/Await in Testing: Swift's async/await can be used in test code just as in production code, allowing for straightforward testing of asynchronous operations (Go further with Swift Testing).

Conclusion

If your application involves straightforward asynchronous operations and you prefer a simpler, more readable syntax, async/await is likely the better choice. On the other hand, if you need to handle complex data streams and transformations, Combine might be more suitable.

For more detailed information, you can refer to the following sessions:

• A Swift Tour: Explore Swift’s features and design
• Go further with Swift Testing
• Explore Swift performance