iOS 10: Taking a Closer Look at Apple's 'Swift Playgrounds' for iPad

[MacRumors]

At WWDC last week, Apple revealed its all-new Swift Playgrounds iPad app, which aims to help younger users learn how to code in Apple's programming language by making the experience more interactive and fun.

For those unfamiliar with Swift, the open-source language was announced by Apple at WWDC 2014, and developed over four years to be "concise and expressive" in order to make coding for iOS, Mac, Apple TV, and Apple Watch more approachable.

Using Swift Playgrounds, Apple invites users to "solve puzzles to master the basics using Swift" and "take on a series of challenges" to step up to more advanced creations. Swift Playgrounds requires no coding knowledge from new learners, but it also "provides a unique way for seasoned developers to quickly bring ideas to life," claims the company.

Users start out by learning the underlying concepts of coding, like commands, functions, loops, parameters, conditional code, variables, operators, types, initialization, and bug fixing. The learning takes place as users create code on the left side of the screen, while they observe the results on the right side in real time.

Learning to code with Swift Playgrounds is incredibly engaging. The app comes with a complete set of Apple-designed lessons. Play your way through the basics in "Fundamentals of Swift" using real code to guide a character through a 3D world. Then move on to more advanced concepts.

The Swift Playground interface supports the iPad's Multi-Touch capabilities, and lets students tap, drag, or type text and numbers, and then interact with their creations.

For example, tapping a number to edit it brings up a pop-up keypad, while statement boundaries can be conveniently dragged around existing code. Commonly used pieces of code can also be dragged from a Snippets Library to minimize typing.

In addition, a specially designed QuickType keyboard for coding lets users quickly access commonly used characters by holding each key, and intelligently suggests commands in the Shortcut Bar as users type.

Swift Playgrounds also comes with templates that are pre-loaded with advanced code to help users integrate iPad technologies like accelerometer, gyroscope, and Multi-Touch into their programs.

Students can add their own graphics and audio to these templates, and their completed code is readily shareable over Mail, Messages, and AirDrop, and they can also post video to Youtube of their programs in action.

Once users have mastered the basics with the app's built-in library of lessons, they can advance to new challenges that appear in a regularly updated App Store-like area of Swift Playgrounds. Finally, any code created in the app can also be exported to Xcode and vice versa when students are ready to take the next step.

Swift Playgrounds will be available in the iOS 10 public beta this July. The final version of the app is expected to launch for free on the App Store sometime in the fall. You can watch Apple's WWDC demo of Swift Playgrounds in action here.

Article Link: iOS 10: Taking a Closer Look at Apple's 'Swift Playgrounds' for iPad

 

[drumcat]

The funny thing is this will be compelling for adults, too. Look at the iOS "Human Resource Machine". Fun game.

 

[robinp]

I'm looking forward to learning a bit of swift with my baby daughter as soon as she is old enough. I have done a bit of scripting in Maya in the past, but would love to have a better insight into proper programming

 

[sirdir]

It's fun, at least when it'll be no longer beta.

 

[moeafg]

Sucks to wait til the Fall to download this. I'm actually excited for this.

 

[Jal217]

I've played through the first few chapters and it's so much better than I expected. It actually teaches about what elements go into coding. They start high level and work there way down and more detailed it seems. Love it.

 

[Xeroc]

Is it just me that thought, when this was announced, that we're now one step closer to XCode for iPad?

 

[Matt Leaf]

looks cool

 

[Dilster3k]

I was always very interested in coding and developing apps for iOS, but never managed to get into it... Hopefully this can change that.

 

[Loge]

Very impressed, looks very capable. I really like the keyboard, which makes it very quick to access all the characters required for coding.

 

[page3]

My eight year old tells me Swift Playgrounds is excellent and one of the best things about iOS 10.

He's preferring it to Blocky, which is what is generally used to teach programming to children here in the UK. Could well shake up the market, especially with the number of schools replacing traditional PC's with iPads.

 

[Borin]

Even as a developer, I'm really looking forward to playing with this.

He's preferring it to Blocky, which is what is generally used to teach programming to children here in the UK.

Things must be different where you live, they teach MIT Scratch and Construct 2 around my neck of the woods.

 

[cycledance]

i wish this wasn't exclusive to ipad...i have no ipad!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[I am Sampson]

Anyone know if this will work on iPad 2s?

My school has nearly 30 iPad 2s and whilst we're about to get 10 iPad Pros to supplement them, it'd be much more realistic a choice to teach children if it could run on all iPads.

 

[djcerla]

I'm looking forward to learning a bit of swift with my baby daughter as soon as she is old enough. I have done a bit of scripting in Maya in the past, but would love to have a better insight into proper programming

same, except it was BASIC and assembler on a Sinclair ZX Spectrum for me

 

[KernelG]

I really wish they'd release this on the Mac, that other device that Apple used to make.

 

[hogo]

early easy prediction:more adults than children will use this to learn swift.

 

[997440]

Anyone know if this will work on iPad 2s?

My school has nearly 30 iPad 2s and whilst we're about to get 10 iPad Pros to supplement them, it'd be much more realistic a choice to teach children if it could run on all iPads.

It doesn't sound like it.

.....
Availability
A preview release of Swift Playgrounds is available today to Apple Developer Program members as part of the iOS 10 developer preview and will be available with the iOS 10 public beta in July. The final version of Swift Playgrounds will be available in the App Store for free this fall. Swift Playgrounds is compatible with all iPad Air and iPad Pro models and iPad mini 2 and later running iOS 10. For more information including videos, images and demos, visit, apple.com/swift/playgrounds.
.....

https://www.apple.com/kw/pr/library...unds-App-Makes-Learning-to-Code-Easy-Fun.html

 

[Chupa Chupa]

Anyone know if this will work on iPad 2s?

My school has nearly 30 iPad 2s and whilst we're about to get 10 iPad Pros to supplement them, it'd be much more realistic a choice to teach children if it could run on all iPads.

Sadly, no, and for no legit tech reason it seems to me since Swift does work on the iPad 2. But per Apple's own Playgrounds press release:

"Playgrounds is compatible with all iPad Air and iPad Pro models and iPad mini 2 and later running iOS 10."


Kind of silly if kids are a large target here. Maybe Apple could whisper to your school's IT (or "IT" as the case may be) how to install it in "unsupported" iPads.

 

[patrickrochon]

one step closer to xcode for ios

 

[newdeal]

can you code with this and make a program to submit to the app store? Or is it just for fun? If you write a program using it do you own the code or does Apple own it?

 

[SvenSvenson]

can you code with this and make a program to submit to the app store? Or is it just for fun? If you write a program using it do you own the code or does Apple own it?

It doesn't look like it, but you can code various parts of a program as part of a playground which can be shared with XCode, so it is a valid tool for mobile iOS development.

 

[page3]

Even as a developer, I'm really looking forward to playing with this.

Things must be different where you live, they teach MIT Scratch and Construct 2 around my neck of the woods.

You're right. It's Scratch. My brain wasn't fully engaged.

 

[69650]

Quite fancy having a go at building my own app.

 

[Chupa Chupa]

can you code with this and make a program to submit to the app store? Or is it just for fun? If you write a program using it do you own the code or does Apple own it?

Think of it as as quick learn language course like Pimsleur or Rosetta Stone but for Swift rather than, say, Italian. It gets you familiar with the syntax and use and then you have enough knowledge to have a basic "conversation" be it with an Italian or a code editor, as the case may be.