How to Become Better Swift Developer
Swift is a powerful and multi-paradigm programming language developed by Apple. The program is effective, easy to use, safe, interactive, and incredibly fast. It is a flagship programming language by Apple that the company intends developers to use as ‘the’ primary tool to generate seamless applications.
Because Swift is a new contender amongst other long-standing programs, it is in the best position to evolve to a benchmark coding language by learning from the failures and successes of different programming languages launched by Apple.
Moreover, the tech giant also shares a rich history, knowledge, and experience when it comes to supporting any application and coding level language with Objective-C, Apple’s previous programming language.
Apple has genuinely outshined itself this time. Swift is a beautiful embodiment of features harnessed by other successful and widely used coding languages.
For example, it has the crispness and precision of Ruby on Rails, but the safety factors of the language are easily comparable to Rust.
Furthermore, it is safe to say that Swift has an excellent interface; you can compare it with Perl with a generic usability power of C++.
Sure, it is still new and has much room to further blossom, but it has elegantly achieved its primary goal, and that is to provide developers both power and fun to make applications at the same time.
13 Ways You Can Become an Effective Swift Developer
One of the first things you will notice about Swift is that it is very user-friendly, especially to beginner and aspiring programmers.
It is an industry-standard programming language that isn’t just powerful, but it offers developers the chance to make the process more enjoyable, along with being more creative and expressive in all their works.
In light of this, mentioned below are some effective you should implement to become a better Swift developer.
1. Getting started with a playground
Before doing anything else, you must upgrade your current Xcode to a higher version. After you install the latest version, open a project on Swift and then launch the new Xcode version. Select the project file and click on the tab “single view application.”
The next step provides all the details in the file, but ensures that you select Swift in the language options. After that, just run your project on Swift. The next important step is to use the Playground.
It is standalone software that works great with Swift. It enables developers to experiment with different Swift coding options; the results are shown instantly - and you will not have to run the full app.
2. Syntax
If you are relatively new to Swift, as a rule of thumb of programming, be sure to create a “HelloWorld” application. You can do this quite seamlessly on Swift. Just type print(“Hello World!”).
If you choose to categorize this as a single line code using Playground, you will immediately see the result for this statement. It will present itself on the right side of your screen.
The next thing you will immediately notice is the fact that there are no semicolons at the end of the code. This is one of the best things about Swift; you won’t have to use semicolons in Swift after typing every statement.
Now that you know this, the next step is to explore the programming language’s syntax, and you can do this by experimenting with new code samples. You can use the current one in the Playground, or you could use a sample from previous builds.
3. You can use Optional safely
An Optional is a programming property that can either have a nil value or a valid value. Whenever you need to print an optional with text, you will be able to unwrap it by typing in aquestion mark at the very end of every property.
However, it is best not to delve too much into forceful unwrapping because it may lead to application crashes.
But you can experiment with exclamation marks in unique conditions. For example, you can use them when building IBOutlets.
4. Keep track of your constant via a single file
Swift makes it easy for you to manage all your project constants. It provides the option to compile your constants in a single file, enhancing the readability factor of your code.
For example, if you have used a specific message in different areas of your code, and if you want to change that message quickly, you can do that from one place. By changing it from a single file, the process will automatically change the message everywhere else in your code.
5. Nested function
You can also define different functions within the context of other functions in your coding - this process is called nested function.
While another entity will not see your nested functions, you still will be able to call and use its enclosing function. You can also call back the enclosing function to the nested function to use externally.
6. Utilizing “guard let:”
When you perform any action, you have to be sure that you have all the required data to streamline every process. There are two common ways developers go about it:
- Using the pyramid function
You can employ the ‘pyramid of doom’ strategy to validate each property used. It is called a pyramid of doom because every condition is formed under a pyramid.
- Conditional return
This is an updated tactic for the pyramid of doom where you can convert the property into a tentative return.
7. Subscripts
Three things define subscripts - class, enumerations, and structures. These are all shortcuts that will enable you to quickly access the member elements of the collection sequence or list.
You can use subscripts to retrieve value or set value via indexing without requiring separate methods for doing the same thing.
8. Extensions
Extensions are great for adding or enhancing a new functionality - and you can use extensions in different protocol types, enumerations, class, and structures.
This also includes the capability to enhance types that you cannot access because of the lack of initial source code.
9. Ternary conditional
Ternary conditional is a unique programming operator that comprises of three parts, and it forms as (question? answer1: answer2).
It is a quick way for developers to evaluate one out of two different expressions and is primarily based on whether the question is false or true.
10. Nil coalescing
The nil-coalescing (a??b) unwraps optional “a” only if “a” comprises of any value. If it doesn’t, “a” returns to the nil value. The “a” expression is an optional type and will always be that - so expression “b” has to match the expression type in “a.”
11. Optional unwrapping
It is common developer knowledge that the “if-let” enables you to unwrap different optional values without any risk, but only if when there is a value available. If there is no value, you will not be successful in running the code block.
However, you can use a guard statement to transition a program control to a different scope if there are no conditions being met.
12. Functional programming
This is a programming paradigm - a method of the style of developing a structure as well as building all the elements of a computer program(s).
Functional programming treats computation as an analysis of mathematical numerations and functions, avoiding mutable data and changing-state.
13. Generics
In Swift, one of the most powerful features you can leverage is Generics. This enables developers to make flexible codes, allowing for reusable functions as well as types, which you can utilize with any other type, bending everything to fit your defined parameters.
The bottom line
So, there you go - some of the best tips and strategies you can use for Swift app development right off the bat! If you have more ways to share, we’d love to know about it.
#swift #xcode
