Everything You Need To Know About Apple's Swift
As someone looking for app development training, you must already know that there are two major players in the market: Apple and Android. In the distant past, you would use Objective C for iOS application development, but now you have to use Swift. If you are working on a new app, you have to learn how to use Swift as Apple only accepts apps built with the language. When Swift had launched four years back, developers took iOS development courses online to learn every little detail about the new programming language. So, without any further delay let’s learn everything there is to learn about Apple Swift.
No Semicolons
When using swift, you do not have to use semicolon to end your statements. However, if you are proficient in Objective C, you should be able to work with Swift. You will just need to rid yourself of the semicolon habit.
Swift Has Type Inference
Just like the latest programming languages (Opa and Scala), Swift has type inference. This means that coders and developers don’t need to spend time explaining variables and risk making errors. In some of the cases, the complier can infer the type from the value of the variable. Due to this, you will find few errors in the code. The good news for coders is that codes will now run faster, thanks to smart optimizations. This means that if you knew Objective C, Swift will not be a problem for you.
Swift Keeps On Getting Better
Apple keeps adding new features to each upgrade of the language. So it is a good idea to keep an eye on news from Apple and familiarize yourself with the latest upgrades.
Swift Needs To Be a Safe(R) Language
Apple has and continues to make efforts to make Swift safe. If you have taken iOS developer classes, you would know that it is important for programmers to add brace brackets when including if statements as this bugs the SSL "goto fail" error. In addition to this, switch statements must include default statements, which would guarantee that there will be something at the end of the statement, even if nothing in the statement is satisfied.
Swift Introduces Generics
Generics are like C++ templates and allow the same functions to be reused with different types of variables
Swift Can Handle Strings Easily
If you got your app development training a while back, you must have worked with Objective C. If that is the case, you would know that string handling can be quite a hassle. The best part about swift is that the way you deal with strings in the new language is much simpler. You can concatenate them by using symbols.
Swift Isn't That Fast
Yes, the name suggests that it will be quick but Swift made applications tend to run slower compared to the ones written in Objective C. Yes, both the languages have some changes, but they are not that different since they tend to target the same Cocoa and Cocoa Touch APIs.
Swift Tuple Offers Compound Variables
Tuple lets you group different elements in a single compound variable. The values in Swift Tuple can be of any time and you have the flexibility of making a tuple from any kind of permutations. There are a number of different ways in which you can get the values. You can either get them through an index number or by breaking the tuple in different variables and constants.
You Have the Flexibility of Experimenting with Swift Code in Playgrounds
Swift has a very interesting feature, which is an interactive environment known as a Playground. This lets you change code while you type without spending hours running the code through the computer in order to execute it. Some of the features that the Playground has include the ability to watch the value of the variable, typing it on a different line in the code, and then looking at its value in the side bar. It also has a Quick Look button that features strings, content, as well as images.
It is said that one of the reasons why Swift was introduced was that it makes porting iOS apps to Android much difficult and coders will not be able to use tool that port Objective-C to Java.
Top Reasons Why You Need to Learn the Swift Language
If you are still thinking whether you should learn the swift language or not, it is recommended that you read the following reasons, as they will surely convince you:
- It is an open source tool, which has made it one of the top programming languages in the world.
- It is easy to learn, so you will grasp the basics in no time. There are a number of resources that you can use.
- It is fast an approachable.
- It is safe.
- It is futuristic and will give you insight about Apple’s development.
- It is enterprise ready, which makes it great for developers creating client solutions.
- You are free to experiment.