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iOS Ways to learn swift while I save up for a mac

BootLoxes

BootLoxes

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Apr 15, 2019
749
897
I am currently having a great time with the ipad playgrounds app. I downloaded the apple books but they are super short and all the content is behind a download link that you need a mac to use.

Eventually I will run out of things to do in the ipad app and need another way to study while I save up for a mac that I will hopefully get in december. Any suggestions would be great. Thank you
 
Do you have a computer now? Swift can run on Linux too, though of course not the Apple frameworks.

When you're finished with Playgrounds you may also be able to do code challenges. LeetCode supports Swift and has many different levels of difficulty in their challenges that can be quite fun.

But you are quite limited for on device execution as arbitrary code execution isn't strictly permitted on the App Store.
 
Swift is just a language. If you want to learn programming just start off with whatever will work on whatever setup you already have. Programming is a skill and once you are confident using one language it's relatively easy to pick up another. The concepts of programming are largely transferrable.

Do something like Java, you can hack Java on virtually any hardware/OS.
 
dantastic said:
Swift is just a language. If you want to learn programming just start off with whatever will work on whatever setup you already have. Programming is a skill and once you are confident using one language it's relatively easy to pick up another. The concepts of programming are largely transferrable.

Do something like Java, you can hack Java on virtually any hardware/OS.
Click to expand...

As long as you don't start out with something like Prolog. Cool language, not as transferrable... Or even worse Brain****/Cock****
 
casperes1996 said:
Do you have a computer now? Swift can run on Linux too, though of course not the Apple frameworks.

When you're finished with Playgrounds you may also be able to do code challenges. LeetCode supports Swift and has many different levels of difficulty in their challenges that can be quite fun.

But you are quite limited for on device execution as arbitrary code execution isn't strictly permitted on the App Store.
Click to expand...

I will look into LeetCode when I run out of things to do in the playgrounds app. Thank you

I do have linux on dual boot but have not been on recently due to an issue with the audio where it sounds distorted. Not sure why it happened but I am going to look into it over the weekend.

dantastic said:
Swift is just a language. If you want to learn programming just start off with whatever will work on whatever setup you already have. Programming is a skill and once you are confident using one language it's relatively easy to pick up another. The concepts of programming are largely transferrable.

Do something like Java, you can hack Java on virtually any hardware/OS.
Click to expand...

Sorry I might have been a bit vague. I am not new to programming languages. I have been doing c# and Unity for roughly a year now. I usually wake up at 5am, do two hours of game making, then practice playgrounds at work. I recently started looking into Javascript so I do that for roughly an hour after work daily.

But for swift I just wanted to know my options for practicing it without a mac.

AxiomaticRubric said:
Some cloud vendors offer macOS as a service which you could remote into and install Xcode, while you are waiting on your physical Mac.
Click to expand...

If I get the base mac mini then I should have enough to get it mid october, though if I wait another month I can get the i5 256gb mini. Should I just go for the 128gb entry model just so I can get a mac faster?
 
AxiomaticRubric said:
Some cloud vendors offer macOS as a service which you could remote into and install Xcode, while you are waiting on your physical Mac.
Click to expand...
I’ve not seen one cloud Mac offering that’s not outrageously expensive, especially for someone who’s actively trying to save money for a Mac.
 
BootLoxes said:
If I get the base mac mini then I should have enough to get it mid october, though if I wait another month I can get the i5 256gb mini. Should I just go for the 128gb entry model just so I can get a mac faster?
Click to expand...

If you're really serious about becoming a developer then 128gb won't be enough. macOS itself can take up to 90gb.

You need plenty of space for Xcode, developer tools, projects, and other supporting files like notes and e-books. On the surface it may not seem like much but small files can quickly eat up available space on an SSD. When you are developing software the number of files you deal with will quickly multiply.
 
AxiomaticRubric said:
If you're really serious about becoming a developer then 128gb won't be enough. macOS itself can take up to 90gb.

You need plenty of space for Xcode, developer tools, projects, and other supporting files like notes and e-books. On the surface it may not seem like much but small files can quickly eat up available space on an SSD. When you are developing software the number of files you deal with will quickly multiply.
Click to expand...

wait why does the os take so much space?!
 
BootLoxes said:
wait why does the os take so much space?!
Click to expand...

Pure OS install won't take up 90GB. People who say things like that are counting things like backup snapshots and stuff like that. But the point still stands that you'll want some breathing space with dev tools. But an external drive could give you that too. Though the i5 could likely be a nice upgrade.
Unless you already have a really nice display keyboard and mouse I might suggest thinking about an iMac solution instead though
 
casperes1996 said:
Pure OS install won't take up 90GB. People who say things like that are counting things like backup snapshots and stuff like that. But the point still stands that you'll want some breathing space with dev tools. But an external drive could give you that too. Though the i5 could likely be a nice upgrade.
Unless you already have a really nice display keyboard and mouse I might suggest thinking about an iMac solution instead though
Click to expand...

i have 2 keyboards and 2 mice. I live in japan where space is limited. I would have no room for an imac and if i was to move back to america i would not be able go bring it. So that just leaves the mini and macbook pro as my only options. Can xcode files save to icloud? I have the 200gb plan currently for my mobile devices
 
BootLoxes said:
i have 2 keyboards and 2 mice. I live in japan where space is limited. I would have no room for an imac and if i was to move back to america i would not be able go bring it. So that just leaves the mini and macbook pro as my only options. Can xcode files save to icloud? I have the 200gb plan currently for my mobile devices
Click to expand...

Well with a screen needing to be attached the iMac would surely be just as small?
Anyways, yes, you can save Xcode files to iCloud. Anything can be saved to iCloud really, though you need to be wary of speed sensitive files; I wouldn’t recommend keeping video editing scratch files on there. With huge development projects it might also be a bit slow, but unless you reach millions of lines of code it’s perfectly fine just keeping your project data on iCloud.
 
casperes1996 said:
Well with a screen needing to be attached the iMac would surely be just as small?
Anyways, yes, you can save Xcode files to iCloud. Anything can be saved to iCloud really, though you need to be wary of speed sensitive files; I wouldn’t recommend keeping video editing scratch files on there. With huge development projects it might also be a bit slow, but unless you reach millions of lines of code it’s perfectly fine just keeping your project data on iCloud.
Click to expand...

Thats great to hear. I already have a monitor from my current gaming pc. The setup takes quite a lot of space. To put into perspective my entire japanese apartment including bathroom and kitchen is smaller than the bedroom i grew up in when i lived in america. And the american room was very average sized for a lower middle class family.

With the mini i can just put in between the monitor legs since they make a V shape and there is enough space for it. For the macbook i can just move the keyboard and use it on my pc table. Unfortunately there just is no place in my apartment to fit the imac. I do want one for the screen but I would have to remove my current pc to make room for it and I cannot do that since I use it very frequently.

There is also the possibility of moving to america in april as my visa is about to run out. That is another reason I am looking at the mini or mbp since the size wont be an issue to travel with. My desktop I just break it down into pieces and tetris it into my luggage and rebuild it when I get to my destination
 
BootLoxes said:
Thats great to hear. I already have a monitor from my current gaming pc. The setup takes quite a lot of space. To put into perspective my entire japanese apartment including bathroom and kitchen is smaller than the bedroom i grew up in when i lived in america. And the american room was very average sized for a lower middle class family.

With the mini i can just put in between the monitor legs since they make a V shape and there is enough space for it. For the macbook i can just move the keyboard and use it on my pc table. Unfortunately there just is no place in my apartment to fit the imac. I do want one for the screen but I would have to remove my current pc to make room for it and I cannot do that since I use it very frequently.

There is also the possibility of moving to america in april as my visa is about to run out. That is another reason I am looking at the mini or mbp since the size wont be an issue to travel with. My desktop I just break it down into pieces and tetris it into my luggage and rebuild it when I get to my destination
Click to expand...

If you plan on moving a lot with your new Mac, here are some excellent bags you may want to consider:

Waterfield Designs
 
BootLoxes said:
Thats great to hear. I already have a monitor from my current gaming pc. The setup takes quite a lot of space. To put into perspective my entire japanese apartment including bathroom and kitchen is smaller than the bedroom i grew up in when i lived in america. And the american room was very average sized for a lower middle class family.

With the mini i can just put in between the monitor legs since they make a V shape and there is enough space for it. For the macbook i can just move the keyboard and use it on my pc table. Unfortunately there just is no place in my apartment to fit the imac. I do want one for the screen but I would have to remove my current pc to make room for it and I cannot do that since I use it very frequently.

There is also the possibility of moving to america in april as my visa is about to run out. That is another reason I am looking at the mini or mbp since the size wont be an issue to travel with. My desktop I just break it down into pieces and tetris it into my luggage and rebuild it when I get to my destination
Click to expand...


Makes sense. Until you get the mini you could look into mackintosh for your gaming PC. You can split up a drive to have both Windows and macOS if your hardware is compatible
 
casperes1996 said:
Makes sense. Until you get the mini you could look into mackintosh for your gaming PC. You can split up a drive to have both Windows and macOS if your hardware is compatible
Click to expand...
My pc was hackintosh until I wiped it for linux. Since the card is nvidia I was stuck at high sierra. When I tried to download xcode it said I needed to update to mojave. If I did that then my gpu would become useless. I just cant seem to win lol
 
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BootLoxes said:
My pc was hackintosh until I wiped it for linux. Since the card is nvidia I was stuck at high sierra. When I tried to download xcode it said I needed to update to mojave. If I did that then my gpu would become useless. I just cant seem to win lol
Click to expand...


Well guess you could always fool around with Swift on Linux. The language is supported and has a compiler on Linux
 
casperes1996 said:
Well guess you could always fool around with Swift on Linux. The language is supported and has a compiler on Linux
Click to expand...

Right now I am trying to see if I can get Mohave running via a VM. If that fails then I will try the linux route. Is there an IDE I can use on linux for swift? I looked a little into it and it seemed many people were coding from the terminal.
 
BootLoxes said:
Right now I am trying to see if I can get Mohave running via a VM. If that fails then I will try the linux route. Is there an IDE I can use on linux for swift? I looked a little into it and it seemed many people were coding from the terminal.
Click to expand...

Yeah, Swift is most mature on Apple platforms. It had Linux support from day 1 and is obviously open source, a Windows compiler is also in the works if it isn’t done already. But outside of Apple platforms I don’t know of really any development environment that has really integrated with Swift Yet. There’s widespread support of the language, but not super integrated. Example of wheat I mean by widespread support is that code challenge sites like LeetCode accept Swift answers.

JetBrains makes an IDE called AppCode. It’s similar to working with IntelliJ (after all, same company behind it). On the Mac at least it supports Swift development for iOS. It may still have functionality for writing on Linux if it’s available, but you’ll probably have issues trying to run or distribute the code through it. Plus it’s mostly made for mobile development which will have roadblicks if developing on Linux since the swift support is for local running, not pushing to an iOS device, which there is no official software stack for outside the Mac.

But you’ll have Swiftc, the REPL, the swift package manager. All you need to get code running. There’s also a Swift Foundation library, which is different from the Foundation framework in macOS and iOS, but exposes some of the same data types for Swift development on Linux.
 
Good to know. For now I will move onto LeetCode after I finish the playgrounds app. That should give me a place to train while I save for a mac. Thank you
 
BootLoxes said:
Right now I am trying to see if I can get Mohave running via a VM. If that fails then I will try the linux route. Is there an IDE I can use on linux for swift? I looked a little into it and it seemed many people were coding from the terminal.
Click to expand...

I’m not aware of any Linux IDE that supports Swift. Unfortunately (at this point) Linux is more of a deployment environment for server-side Swift apps created in Xcode on macOS.

Even if there was a Linux IDE supporting Swift, you wouldn’t be able to use any 3rd party packages such as Alamofire or Vapor, since these are distributed through package managers compatible with Xcode (CocoaPods, Swift Package Manager, etc.).
 
AxiomaticRubric said:
Even if there was a Linux IDE supporting Swift, you wouldn’t be able to use any 3rd party packages such as Alamofire or Vapor, since these are distributed through package managers compatible with Xcode (CocoaPods, Swift Package Manager, etc.)
Click to expand...

As long as they don’t rely on Apple platform specific features; The Swift Package Manager works on Linux through a CLI I believe.
 
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