DAY 1

First steps in Swift

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SwiftUI is a powerful framework for building user-interactive apps for iOS, macOS, tvOS, and even watchOS. But you can’t build software without having a programming language, so behind SwiftUI lies Swift itself: a powerful, flexible, and modern programming language that you’ll use for all your SwiftUI apps.

As Mark Twain once said, “the secret to getting ahead is getting started.” Well, you’re starting now, so we’re going to dive in and learn about variables, constants, and simple data types in Swift.

Today you have seven tutorials to complete. If you want to dive deeper into each topic there is optional further reading, but you don’t need to read that unless you want to and have the time. Regardless, there are a number of short tests to help make sure you’ve understood key concepts.

I know, I know: the temptation is strong to continue on to watch more videos and take more tests beyond those linked below, but remember: don’t rush ahead! It’s much better to do one hour a day every day than do chunks with large gaps between.

1. Introduction: Why Swift?
2. Introduction: About this course
3. Introduction: How to follow along
4. How to create variables and constants
   • Optional: Why does Swift have variables?
   • Optional: Why does Swift have constants as well as variables?
   • Test: Variables
   • Test: Constants
5. How to create strings
   • Optional: Why does Swift need multi-line strings?
   • Test: Multi-line strings
6. How to store whole numbers
   • Test: Strings and integers
7. How to store decimal numbers
   • Optional: Why does Swift need both Doubles and Integers?
   • Optional: Why is Swift a type-safe language?

When you’re finished, don’t forget to tell other people about your progress. Yes, this is only day one, but the more motivation you get now the more you’ll be able to power through when things get tougher!

Reminder: I have a free iOS app that helps you practice Swift right on your iPhone and iPad. It contains alternative lessons that might help these new concepts sink in, plus lots more bonus activities. And did I mention it was free? Download it here.

Tips

• You can download Xcode from the Mac App Store by clicking here.
• As you progress in these early days you’ll build up lots of code from each day. You can keep it in different playgrounds if you want, or you can delete it – it’s down to you.

Share your progress!

If you use Twitter, the button below will prepare a tweet saying you completed today, along with a celebratory graphic, the URL to this page, and the challenge hashtag. Don't worry – it won't be sent until you confirm on Twitter!

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Need help? Tweet me @twostraws!

 

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100 Days of SwiftUI

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The 100 Days of SwiftUI is a free collection of videos, tutorials, tests, and more to help you learn SwiftUI faster. Click here to learn more, or watch the video below.

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