'Swift' Programming Language in Development for Four Years, "Major Focus" Since 2013

Looking forward to use Swift

Coming from Java and Ruby I directly felt at home reading the Swift eBook. It seemed very familiar and complete. Never found the time to really get into Objective-C, so am glad to see Swift. Am looking forward to program with it.

Well it's interesting. It also seems that all of Apple's frameworks are still written in Objective-C/C but have been made bridgeable with Swift.

I'd like to know how it performs compared to C. Since that's what most of Foundation is written in and other lower level frameworks for performance reasons.

Some things in swift are a pure delight to hear about and I look forward to actually being able to use it properly in a few months. For now I'll have to stick to Objective-C since they aren't letting Swift into the App Store yet.

I started reading and wanted to code as I read to get a good feel for it but Xcode beta is a pain in the butt. Its slow, playground isn't workign for me and all around not worth trying. So untill it gets better ill have to wait

370,000 downloads of the Swift programming book from iBooks already in 1 day.

To be honest I was going to write a web app and use phonegap for some platform specific features. However I think I'm going to give Swift a go instead.

doelcm82 said:

Today's programmers have it easy.

We programmers from the 80s used to have to build linked lists from dirt and bits of string we found on the ground.

The programmers from the 70s had to punch their code out on cards and feed the cards into the machine.

Inferred variable types...pshaw.

Click to expand...

let pshaw: Infrared

charlieegan3 said:

The language? Maybe. The book? Not so much...

Sure it's fine, but it's hardly documentation.

Click to expand...

I'd say that's a bit of a stretch, it's hardly a beginners guide to programming, but I doubt that was the intention.

HMI said:

Swift looks pretty cool, and I'm excited to start learning it at some point.....

.....but the visual part of me wishes that the white bird in the icon were flying upwards towards the top right corner instead downwards towards the bottom right corner. I guess I just have to deal with it!

Click to expand...

I had similar thoughts when I first saw it. It almost looks to be going down in flames—which I'm sure isn't what Apple had in mind!!

doelcm82 said:

No overseas partners to leak it to sites like this one.

Click to expand...

Very true!

charlieegan3 said:

The language? Maybe. The book? Not so much...

Sure it's fine, but it's hardly documentation.

Click to expand...

Applescript was (is) the same. The best Applescript learning guides were written by third party authors.

The snakes and ladders code examples in the Swift iBook look useful for getting my head around arrays.

As someone that doesn't know how to program, I've been constantly told that programming teaches you a 'different way to think'. Naturally, the idea of creating Mac and iOS apps seems appealing.

I'd like to know if Swift is a good first computer language, or if it's too early to say. I've also heard Ruby (or maybe it was Ruby on Rails?) is a good first language.

But I guess what I'm asking is, would any programmers recommend this as a good starting point?

charlieegan3 said:

This isn't really a good one to pick up as a first language yet, and it likely won't be in uni courses for quite a while.

If you've never programmed a scripting language like Ruby or Python is a good starting point.

Click to expand...

Agreed. For anyone completely new to programming and keen to give it a go, I can highly recommend Learn to Program by Chris Pine, which is both an introduction to programming, and a Ruby tutorial. You can buy the book, or do an older version of the tutorial online for free.

There are also interactive online tutorials which allow you to write and test your code directly in your browser:

http://tryruby.org
http://www.codecademy.com/tracks/ruby

doelcm82 said:

Today's programmers have it easy.

We programmers from the 80s used to have to build linked lists from dirt and bits of string we found on the ground.

The programmers from the 70s had to punch their code out on cards and feed the cards into the machine.

Inferred variable types...pshaw.

Click to expand...

Oh hell you rich kids got to use dirt and string in the '80s? Us poor kids were still punching cards!

kalsta said:

I had similar thoughts when I first saw it. It almost looks to be going down in flames—which I'm sure isn't what Apple had in mind!!

Click to expand...

That's exactly what I thought as well! I'm glad I'm not the only one who had that impression!


Although, this might be a great picture to use the next time wall-street or the mainstream media predicts Apple's "doom."

If you think Swift is great, wait till you see the new language from samsung. They started working on it one day before Apple started working on Swift.

It's gonna totally change the industry.

cowbellallen said:

As someone that doesn't know how to program, I've been constantly told that programming teaches you a 'different way to think'. Naturally, the idea of creating Mac and iOS apps seems appealing.

I'd like to know if Swift is a good first computer language, or if it's too early to say. I've also heard Ruby (or maybe it was Ruby on Rails?) is a good first language.

But I guess what I'm asking is, would any programmers recommend this as a good starting point?

Click to expand...

See my comment right below yours.

charlieegan3 said:

Has anyone else been trying to pick this up? I'm finding the lack of any real documentation a bit of an issue.

Click to expand...

How about the 600 page book free on the iBooks store.

HMI said:

Swift looks pretty cool, and I'm excited to start learning it at some point.....

.....but the visual part of me wishes that the white bird in the icon were flying upwards towards the top right corner instead downwards towards the bottom right corner. I guess I just have to deal with it!

Click to expand...

To me, the bird is attacking.

I wonder how long I can coast on my suddenly-very-appropriate username on Macrumors...

I purchased the iOS dev membership but my account is sitting there "processing." C'mon Apple, I wanna play in the playground! I finally wanna give some of my ideas a shot...

doelcm82 said:

Today's programmers have it easy.

We programmers from the 80s used to have to build linked lists from dirt and bits of string we found on the ground.

The programmers from the 70s had to punch their code out on cards and feed the cards into the machine.

Inferred variable types...pshaw.

Click to expand...

do you want a medal?

kalsta said:

I had similar thoughts when I first saw it. It almost looks to be going down in flames—which I'm sure isn't what Apple had in mind!!

Click to expand...

I've yet to see a swift either crash or burn, so I didn't get either impression. On the other hand, if they'd called it Phoenix...

For what it's worth, I find the diving swift to be much more evocative than a climbing swift would be. Diving is when a swift is truly swift.

Choice of color? Hot colors evoke dynamism. If they'd gone for true coloration, the bird would have been gray/black, and the background sky blue. Ho hum!

And though I doubt it's at all intentional, swifts eat bugs.

HMI said:

.....but the visual part of me wishes that the white bird in the icon were flying upwards towards the top right corner instead downwards towards the bottom right corner. I guess I just have to deal with it!

Click to expand...

That's pretty much how swifts fly, though, in real life. They're swiftest when they're swooping down, generally to snatch bugs out of the air, then they rise again and lose speed. The split tail is for extra maneuverability. Somebody at Apple is a birdwatcher .

charlieegan3 said:

Has anyone else been trying to pick this up? I'm finding the lack of any real documentation a bit of an issue.

Click to expand...

There's a big book about it on iBooks. Plowing through it, and it seems straightforward enough. It's amusing to see how language design decisions map down to what/how clang/llvm does for optimization.

For those who care, it's worth watching the previous clang/llvm WWDC sessions (they're on iTunes U/dev.apple.com).

llvm and its ilk has come a long way from being a generally retargatable VM.

----------

cowbellallen said:

As someone that doesn't know how to program, I've been constantly told that programming teaches you a 'different way to think'. Naturally, the idea of creating Mac and iOS apps seems appealing.

Click to expand...

Swift would be fine, especially if playgrounds actually work.

There's a lot more to programming than the language, though. There's how you hook everything together, which is totally different than actual programming.

What needs to happen, really, is someone needs to come out with a Hypercard/VB like structure/framework so you can just type swift code into stuff and it'll just work.

appleguy123 said:

How can I learn the language without having any other programming experience? Is there a class I can take in university?

Click to expand...

Well, certainly not yet. It's possible some computer science departments around the world are scrambling to get a curriculum going, but I doubt you'll see any classes on Swift for at least a year or two. If I were you, I'd wait six months and see what books start coming out. In the meantime, you should go learn another language. The more you know, the easier it is to pick up a new one, and when you do start learning Swift you won't be so overwhelmed with everything being new.

doelcm82 said:

Will the Stanford course on iTunes University for iOS 8 programming be updated to use Swift?

Click to expand...

Off course not. Because they've updated that course with the latest info every year for five years now means they will stop doing that and start teaching obsolete info. /s

Seriously, where do you get these ideas?