When should you choose composition over inheritance in Swift?

Answer: Prefer composition (a type holds/uses other types to get behavior) when:

• The relationship is "has-a" rather than "is-a" (a Car has an Engine, it isn't an Engine)
• You need to mix behaviors from multiple sources (single inheritance can't do this; protocol composition can)
• You're working with structs/enums, which can't inherit at all
• You want to avoid deep, fragile class hierarchies that are hard to change later

Reach for inheritance only when there's a genuine "is-a" relationship and you need to share both implementation and a common type for polymorphic storage — e.g., UIViewController subclasses, where the framework itself dictates the hierarchy.

// Composition: Car is built from independently-testable pieces
struct Engine { func start() { } }
struct Wheels { func roll() { } }

struct Car {
    let engine: Engine
    let wheels: Wheels
    func drive() {
        engine.start()
        wheels.roll()
    }
}

This mirrors the broader Swift philosophy: model "is-a" relationships with protocols and "has-a" relationships with composition, reserving class inheritance for cases the platform requires.