2016/5/27

AbsoluteBeginner'sGuidetoSwift

AbsoluteBeginner'sGuidetoSwift
Update:WereexcitedtoannouncethatTreehousehaslauncheditsLearnSwiftcourses!
LearnSwiftbasics,Swiftfunctions,andbuildtworealappswithSwift.Learnmoreaboutour
Swiftcourses.

WhySwift?
Incaseyouhaventheard,ApplejustintroducedanewlanguageforiOSandOSXdevelopers
calledSwift.IthascometolightthatSwiftwasintheworkssince2010,whichis2yearsafter
thefirstSDKwasreleased.ApplesawthelimitationsofObjective-Cwhichisalmost30years
oldanddecideditwastimeforachange.However,intrueApplefashion,theydidnotwantto
releaseahalf-bakedlanguage.TheyrealizedthatnomatterthedrawbacksofObjective-C,they
couldstillpushtheenvelopewithit,andsotheydid.
ItsbeensixyearssincethereleaseofthefirstSDKand1.2millionappshavebeensubmitted
totheAppStore.Millionsofdevelopershavesufferedthroughlearningthearcanesyntaxand
limitationsofObjective-C.Recently,avocalfewdecidedtospeakupexpressingtheirwoes
abouttheoutdatedlanguage.
Swiftprobablytookalittleoverfouryearstocreateandistheresultoftheworkofmanysmart
individualswholovecraftinganewlanguage.Theylookedallaroundforinspirationandnot
onlycreatedanewlanguagebuttoolstoalongwithitthatwouldmakeiteasytolearn.
WhentalkingaboutSwift,Applereferstothreekeyconsiderations:Safe,ModernandPowerful.
Itlivesuptoallthosethreethings.Outlinedbelowaresomeoftheverybasicsyouneedtoget
upandrunningwithSwift.Ifyoualreadyknowaprogramminglanguage,thenyouwillseea
lotofsimilaritieswithothermodernlanguages.Youmightevenwonderwhytheyhadtoinvent
awholenewlanguage,butthatisdiscussionforanotherblogpost.

UsingSwift
Firstly,youwillhavetodownloadandinstallXcode6.Onceyouhaveinstalledit,openitup
andselectFilefromthemenu->New->SelectSourceontheleftundereitheriOSorOSX->
Playground.Giveyourplaygroundanameandyouarereadytogetstarted.
Alternatively,youcouldusetheREPL(ReadEvaluatePrintLoop)fromtheterminal.
Instructionstorunfromtheterminal:
1.Openupterminal
2.IfyouhavetwoormoreversionsofXcodeinstalledthenyouwillneedtoselectXcode6as
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yourdefaultversion.IfyouareonlyrunningXcode6thenskipaheadtostep3.Ifyouareonly
runningXcode6thenskipaheadtostep3,otherwisegoaheadandrunthefollowingline:
sudoxcodeselects/Applications/Xcode6Beta.app/Contents/Developer/
AtthetimeofwritingthispostbetaversionofXcode6wasnamedXcode6-Beta.Please
checkyourappnameintheApplicationsfoldertowriteouttheappropriatepathwhen
usingxcodeselect.
3.TostarttheREPLtype:
xcrunswift

Fundamentals
Variables
Aswitheveryprogramminglanguageyouhavevariableswhichallowyoutostoredata.To
declareavariableyouhavetousethekeywordvar.
vargreeting:String="HelloWorld"
Theabovecodeinstructsthesystemthatyouwanttocreateavariablenamedgreetingwhich
isoftypeStringanditwillcontainthetext,HelloWorld.
Swiftissmartenoughtoinferthatifyouareassigningastringtoavariableandinfactthat
variablewillbeoftypestring.Soyouneednotexplicitlyspecifythetypeasintheabove
example.Abetterandcommonwayofwritingtheaboveexamplewouldbe:
vargreeting="HelloWorld"//InferredtypeString
Variablescanbemodifiedoncecreatedsowecouldaddanotherlineandchangeour
greetingtosomethingelse.
vargreeting="HelloWorld"//InferredtypeString
greeting="HelloSwift"
Whilewritinganapplicationtherearemanyinstanceswhereyoudontwanttochangea
variableonceithasbeeninitialized.Applehasalwayshadtwovariantsoftypesmutableand
immutable.Mutablemeaningthevariablecanbemodifiedandimmutablethatitcannotbe
modified.Theypreferimmutabilitybydefaultwhichmeansthatthevaluesarentgoingto
changeanditmakesyourappfasterandsaferinamulti-threadedenvironment.Tocreatean
immutablevariableyouneedtousethekeywordlet.
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Ifwechangeourgreetingexampletouseletinsteadofvarthenthesecondlinewillgiveusa
compilererrorbecausewecannotmodifygreeting.
letgreeting="HelloWorld"
greeting="HelloSwift"//Compilererror
Letstakeanotherexamplesoyouunderstandwhyandwhentouselet.
letlanguageName:String="Swift"
varversion:Double=1.0
letintroduced:Int=2014
letisAwesome:Bool=true
TheaboveexamplenotonlyshowsusthevarioustypesthatareavailableinSwiftbutitalso
showsusthatthereasontouselet.AsidefromtheversionnumberoftheSwiftlanguage
everythingelseremainsconstants.YoumightarguethatisAwesomeisdebatablebutIlllet
youreachthatconclusiononceyoureachtheendofthispost.
Sincethetypeisinferredweshouldsimplywrite:
letlanguageName="Swift"//inferredasString
varversion=1.0//inferredasDouble
letintroduced=2014//inferredasInt
letisAwesome=true//inferredasBool

Strings
InouraboveexamplewehavebeenwritingtheStringtype.Letsseehowwecanconcatenate
twostringsbyusingthe+operator.
lettitle="AnAbsoluteBeginnersGuidetoSwift"
letreview="IsAwesome!"
letdescription=title+""+review
//description="AnAbsoluteBeginnersGuidetoSwiftIsAwesome!"
Stringshaveapowerfulstringinterpolationfeaturewhereitseasytousevariablestocreate
strings.
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letdatePublished="June9th,2014"
letpostMeta="BlogPostpublishedon:\(datePublished)"
//postMeta="BlogPostpublishedon:June9th,2014"
Inalltheaboveexamples,Ihavebeenusingthekeywordletwhichmeansyoucannotmodify
thestringonceithasbeencreated.However,ifyoudoneedtomodifythestringthensimply
usethekeywordvar.

OtherTypes
BesidesstringsyouhaveIntforwholenumbers.DoubleandFloatforfloating-point
numbersandBoolforbooleanvaluessuchas:trueoffalse.Thesetypesareinferredjustasa
stringsoyouneednotexplicitlyspecifythemwhencreatingavariable.
AFloatandDoublevaryinprecisionandhowlargeofanumberyoucanstore.
Float:representsa32-bitfloating-pointnumberandtheprecisionofFloatcanbeaslittleas
6decimaldigits.
Double:representsa64-bitfloatingpointnumberandhasaprecisionofatleast15decimal
digits.
Bydefaultwhenyouwriteafloating-pointnumberitisinferredasaDouble.
varversion=1.0//inferredasDouble
YoucanexplicitlyspecifyaFloat.
varversion:Float=1.0

CollectionTypes
Array
Collectionscomeintwovarieties.Firstly,anarraywhichisacollectionofdataitemswhichcan
beaccessedviaanindexbeginningwith0.
varcardNames:[String]=["Jack","Queen","King"]
//Swiftcaninfer[String]sowecanalsowriteitas:
varcardNames=["Jack","Queen","King"]//inferredas[String]
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Youcancreatetwotypesofarrays:anarrayofasingletypeoranarraywithmultipletypes.
Swiftiskeenonbeingsafesoitpreferstheformerbutcanaccommodatethelaterwithgeneric
types.Theexampleaboveisanarrayofstringswhichmeansthatitisasingletypearray.
Toaccessanitemfromthearrayyouneedtousethesubscript:
println(cardNames[0])
Note:weusedafunctionabovecalledprintlnwhichwillprintthevalueJacktothe
consoleandthenaddanewline.

ModifyinganArray
Letscreateanewarraythatcontainsatodolist.
vartodo=["WriteBlog","ReturnCall"]
Makesurethatyouusethekeywordvarsothatwecanmodifyourarray.
Toaddanotheritemtoourtodoarrayweusethe+=operator:
todo+="GetGrocery"
Toaddmultipleitemstoourtodoarraywesimplyappendanarray:
todo+=["Sendemail","PickupLaundry"]
Toreplaceanexistingiteminthearraysimplysubscriptthatitemandprovideanewvalue:
todo[0]="ProofreadBlogPost"
Toreplaceanentirerangeofitems:
todo[2..<5]=["PickupLaundry","GetGrocery","CookDinner"]

Dictionary
TheothercollectiontypeisaDictionarywhichissimilartoaHashTableinother
programminglanguages.Adictionaryallowsyoutostorekey-valuepairsandaccessthevalue
byprovidingthekey.
Forexample,wecanspecifyourcardsbyprovidingtheirkeysandsubsequentvalues.

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varcards=["Jack":11,"Queen":12,"King":13]
Abovewehavespecifiedthecardnamesasthekeysandtheircorrespondingnumericalvalue.
KeysarenotrestrictedtotheStringtype,theycanbeofanytypeandsocanthevalues.

ModifyingaDictionary
Whatifwewantedtoaddanacetoourcardsdictionary?Allwehavetodoisusethekey
asasubscriptandassignitavalue.Note:cardsisdefinedasavarwhichmeansitcanbe
modified.
cards["ace"]=15
Wemadeamistakeandwanttochangethevalueoface.Onceagainjustusethekeyas
thesubscriptandassignitanewvalue.
cards["ace"]=1
Toretrieveavaluefromthedictionary
println(cards["ace"])

ControlFlow
Looping
Whatitgoodisacollectionifyoucannotloopoverit?Swiftprovideswhile,dowhile,for
andforinloops.Letstakealookateachoneofthem.
Theeasiestoneofthemisthewhileloopwhichstateswhilesomethingistrueexecutea
blockofcode.Itstopsexecutionwhenthatconditionturnstofalse.
while!complete{

println("Downloading...")

}
Note:theexclamationmarkbeforethevariablecompletedenotesnotandisreadasnot
complete.
Likewise,youhavethedowhileloopwhichensuresthatyourblockofcodeisexecutedat
leastonce.

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varmessage="Startingtodownload"
do{

println(message)

message="Downloading.."

}while!complete
SubsequentcallstotheprintlnstatementwillprintDownloading..
Youhavetheregularforloopwhereyoucanspecifyanumberandincrementthatnumbertoa
certainvalue:
forvari=1i<cardNames.count++i{

println(cardNames[i])

}
Oryoucansimplyusetheforinvariantwhereitcreatesatemporaryvariableandassignsita
valuewhileiteratingoverthearray.
forcardNameincardNames{

println(cardName)

}
Theabovecodewillprintoutallthecardnamesinthearray.Wecanalsousearange.Arange
ofvaluesisdenotedbytwodotsorthreedots.
Forexample:
110isarangeofnumbersfrom1to10.Thethreedotsareknownasaclosedrange
becausetheupperlimitisinclusive.
1..<10isarangeofnumbersfrom1to9.Thetwodotswithalesser-thansignisknownas
ahalf-closedrangebecausetheupperlimitisnon-inclusive.
Letsprintoutthe2timestableusingforinwitharange:
fornumberin1...10{

println("\(number)times2is\(number*2)")

}
Wecanalsoiterateoverthecardsdictionarytoprintoutboththekeyandthevalue:
for(cardName,cardValue)incards{

println("\(cardName)=\(cardValue)")

}
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IfStatements
Tocontroltheflowofourcodeweofcoursehaveanifstatement.
ifcardValue==11{

println("Jack")

}elseifcardValue==12{

println("Queen")

}else{

println("Notfound")

}
Note:Theifsyntaxcanhaveparenthesisbuttheyareoptional.However,thebraces{}are
mandatoryunlikeotherlanguages.

SwitchStatement
TheswitchstatementinSwiftisveryversatileandhasalotoffeatures.Somebasicrulesabout
theswitchstatement:
Itdoesntrequireabreakstatementaftereachcasestatement
Theswitchisnotlimitedtointegervalues.Youcanmatchagainstanyvaluessuchas:
String,Int,Doubleoranyobjectforthatmatter.
Theswitchstatementmustmatchagainsteveryvaluepossibleifnotyoumusthavea
defaultcasewhichmakesyourcodesafer.Ifyoudontprovideacaseforeveryvalueor
adefaultthenyouwillgetacompilererrorsaying:switchmustbeexhaustive.
switchcardValue{

case11:

case12:

default:

println("Jack")
println("Queen")
println("Notfound")

}
Letssayyouhaveadistancevariableandyouaretryingtoprintamessagebasedondistance.
Youcanusemultiplevaluesforeachcasestatement:
switchdistance{

case0:

case1,2,3,4,5:

println("notavaliddistance")
println("near")

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case6,7,8,9,10:

default:

println("far")
println("toofar")

}
Therearetimeswhenevenmultiplevaluesarelimiting.Forthoseinstancesyoucanuseranges.
Whatifanydistancegreaterthan10andlessthan100wasconsideredfar?
switchdistance{

case0:

case1..10:

case10..100:

default:

println("notavaliddistance")

println("near")

println("far")

println("toofar")

}
Canyouguesswhattheabovecodewillprint?

Functions
Finally,wehavebeenusingprintlninalotofourexampleswhichisanexampleofhowto
useafunction.Buthowcanyoucreateyourownfunction?
Itissimple,youhavetousethekeywordfuncandprovideitwithwithaname.
funcprintCard(){

println("Queen")

}
WhatgoodisafunctionifitalwaysgoingtojustprintQueenasthecardname.Whatifwe
wanttopassitaparametersoitcanprintanycardname?
funcprintCard(cardName:String){

println(cardName)

}
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Ofcourse,wearenotrestrictedtojustoneparameter.Wecanpassinmultipleparameters:
funcprintCard(cardName:String,cardValue:Int){

println("\(cardName)=\(cardValue)")

}
Whatifwesimplywantedourfunctiontobuildastringandreturnthevalueinsteadofprinting
it?Thenwecanspecifyareturnitwhichisspecifiedattheendofthefunctiondeclaration
followedbyanarray>.
funcbuildCard(cardName:String,cardValue:Int)>String{

return"\(cardName)=\(cardValue)"

}
AbovewearesayingthatwearecreatingafunctionnamedbuildCardwhichtakesintwo
parametersandreturnsaString.

Conclusion
Ifyouhavemadeitthisfar,thencongratulations!Youarenowwell-versedinthebasicsof
Swift.Thatisalottotakein,butitisonlyscratchingthesurfaceandwhatSwiftiscapableof.
Thereissomuchmoretolearn,andhereatTreehouseweareworkingoncoursestoprovide
youwithalltheSwiftlearningthatyouneed.Staytunedformore!
IfyouwanttolearnthebasicsofSwift,takeAmitsLearnSwiftcoursesonTreehouse.

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