# Delegates vs Closure Callbacks

DevFeed: [Delegates vs Closure Callbacks](<https://devfeed.tech/articles/delegates-vs-closure-callbacks-25806.md>)

Original publisher: [Read original article](<https://www.steveonstuff.com/2018/08/16/delegates-vs-closure-callbacks>)

Author: Steve Barnegren

Published: 2018-08-16T00:00:00Z

Content type: comparison

Language: en

Sources: [Steve Barnegren](<https://devfeed.tech/sources/steve-barnegren.md>)

Topics: [Swift](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/swift.md>), [Objective-C](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/objective-c.md>)

Tags: [callback](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/callback.md>), [closure](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/closure.md>), [compare](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/compare.md>), [delegates](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/delegates.md>), [objective-c](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/objective-c.md>), [patterns](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/patterns.md>), [swift](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/swift.md>)

## AI overview

This comparison examines delegate and closure callback patterns in Swift, focusing on retain-cycle handling and managing callbacks from multiple instances. It finds delegates safer for weak-reference relationships, while closure callbacks are clearer when separating callbacks for multiple instances.

## Source excerpt

Remember how awesome the delegate pattern was in Objective-C? Enabling classes to be super reusable by delegating out the bits that you might want control over. There's a reason that it's so ubiquitous across Cocoa Touch, it's just so damn good!