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Matteo Manferdini
Swift and iOS Development Best Practices

Learn Swift Programming: The

essential step to creating iOS
apps
June 26, 2023 by Matteo Manferdini
Reading Time: 11 minutes

The first step to making iOS apps is learning Swift.

But learning a new programming language can be daunting if you

approach it for the first time.

Nonetheless, if you follow the right path, learning Swift can be fun
and rewarding. Many developers worldwide use Swift because they
like to build well-crafted programs.

In this article, I show you the right path to learning Swift.

I won’t only cover the how, but I will also explain why each piece is
essential to build the whole puzzle.

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Table of contents
1. Approaching Swift for the first time
2. Grasping the basic concepts of programming
3. Controlling the flow of execution of a program
4. Further reading

Chapter 1

Approaching Swift for the first

time

1. What is Swift, and why should you learn it?

2. Is Swift difficult to learn?
3. How long does it take to learn Swift?
4. What is the best way to learn Swift?

What is Swift, and why should you

learn it?

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Swift is a programming language created by Apple. Most people learn

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Swift to make Manferdini
iOS apps, but Swift is used on all Apple platforms:
Swift and iOS Development Best Practices
macOS, iPadOS, watchOS, and tvOS.

While Swift is mainly used to make apps for Apple platforms, it’s also
available on other operating systems, like Windows and Linux, and you
can also use it to develop server-side applications.

So, if you want to make any of these things, you should learn Swift.

Some beginners wonder whether they should learn Swift or SwiftUI.

The answer is yes.

Jokes aside, SwiftUI is a framework that allows you to build user

interfaces for your apps. As the name suggests, it’s based on the Swift
language, which you should learn first.

Is Swift difficult to learn?

The answer to this question depends on your proficiency with
programming.

Learning Swift as a beginner with no programming

experience
Most people who ask this question have no prior programming
knowledge. That’s ok. Swift is not easier or harder to learn than other
programming languages.

Ultimately, how difficult it is to learn to program depends on each

individual and their skills and experience. I found programming easy to
learn, but while studying computer science at university, I saw many
people struggle. It’s hard to say whether that was the fault of the
student, the teachers, or the approach.

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So, if you’re interested in learning Swift, approach it with an open

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mind. Be prepared for a challenge and embrace it. Don’t be put off if
Swift and iOS Development Best Practices
you don’t get something straight away. And check in on your progress
regularly to see how far you’ve come!

Learning Swift when you know programming

already
Switching to Swift will be pretty easy if you already know how to
program in another language. Swift is part of the C family of
programming languages, so chances are that you are already familiar
with most of its syntax.

And while Swift incorporates some functional programming concepts,

it’s used chiefly imperatively. Many of the ideas you will find in Swift
are borrowed from other programming languages. For example,
protocol-oriented programming is an instantiation of mixins that you
also find in other languages.

How long does it take to learn Swift?

This question is even harder to answer.

If you already know programming in another imperative language, you

can become proficient in Swift in a week. However, it will take longer
to understand its nuances, advanced techniques, and language
constructs.

The chances are, though, that you are a beginner and don’t know how
to program yet.

You will find different timelines online, ranging from weeks to

months. It’s impossible to give you an estimate. It will significantly
depend on how much time and effort you put into it and how effective

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the material you follow is.

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Swift and iOS Development Best Practices
To be clear, I am only talking about learning fundamental
programming concepts to become productive and make apps. If you
wish to learn about advanced language features, that will take far
longer.

The good news is that you don’t have to worry about those for now.
Advanced concepts are only relevant when you want to solve specific
problems that only arise when you have some proficiency in
programming and some experience making apps.

What is the best way to learn Swift?

As with many things in life, practice is the best teacher, and it’s crucial
when learning how to program.

In theory, you can go through the basic language features in a couple

of weeks. You can take a book on Swift, read it cover to cover, and
what you read might even make sense to you.

But that does not mean that you will learn to program.

Programming is the act of solving problems, and you can only train
that skill by solving problems. Of course, you cannot do that alone,
and you will need a guide. But on the other hand, having a simple
overview of all the tools at your disposal won’t teach you how to use
those tools.

Some websites will teach Swift in “60 seconds” or “100 days”. My

experience with my students is that those sites only give you a
superficial impression of learning.

And sure, some aspects of making apps, like making a simple user

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interface, are indeed easy to grasp and apply. But an app’s

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functionality Manferdini
comes from its underlying code. That’s where you need
Swift and iOS Development Best Practices
to be a programmer.

Chapter 2

Grasping the basic concepts of

programming

1. Getting the necessary software to write and run your Swift

programs
2. Hello, World! The first step in every programming language
3. Performing arithmetical calculations
4. Naming values using constants and accumulating results in
variables
5. Creating and manipulating text using strings and characters

Getting the necessary software to

write and run your Swift programs
The first thing you need to learn Swift programming is the right
software.

The best option is to use Xcode, which is an Integrated Development

Environment (IDE) that you will also use to make apps for iOS or other
Apple platforms.

The easiest way to get Xcode is through the Mac App Store, but there
are better ways.

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Matteo Manferdini
Swift and iOS Development Best Practices

Further reading: The Best and Fastest Ways to Install Xcode on your
Mac

Another option you have is to use the Swift Playgrounds app. Not only
does it allow you to run your code, but it also has lessons that will
teach you Swift programming and iOS app development.

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Matteo Manferdini
Swift and iOS Development Best Practices

I would personally use Xcode, which you will need to learn to use
sooner or later, but Swift Playgrounds is a much lighter app, and it can
run on an iPad as well.

And if you don’t have a Mac and can’t afford a second-hand computer,
you can learn Swift using Visual Studio code on Windows or Linux.

Hello, World! The first step in every

programming language
The first example program you write in any language is “Hello, World!”

// This is a comment, ignored by the compiler

print("Hello World!") // You can also write a comment next to an instruction

/* This is also a comment,

which spans multiple lines
and ends only with a
closing delimiter */

This is an elementary program with one instruction that teaches you

how to print something. It also teaches you how to write comments in
your code that the compiler ignores.

Many think this is a useless exercise, and I thought the same at the
beginning. But it teaches two fundamental concepts that you will use
throughout your career. Why?

• The print function is often the first tool many developers use

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to debug a program that does not work as expected, even

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though Xcode offers some powerful debugging tools.
Swift and iOS Development Best Practices
• Comments are an essential part of programming. While code
should always be self-explanatory, you can use comments to
note something that is not evident, like the reasons behind a
piece of code. Comments are also used to create
documentation.

Further reading: Hello, World! Your First Swift Program

Performing arithmetical calculations

Any program you write will manipulate values in one way or another to
achieve a specific result.

The most common values you will use in Swift are numbers. At its
most basic, you can use Swift to perform simple arithmetical
calculations.

Swift has five arithmetical operators: addition, subtraction,

multiplication, division, and remainder (or modulo).

2 + 3 // 5
7 - 4 // 3
3 * 5 // 15
9 / 3 // 3
8 % 3 // 2

When I learned programming, I thought these were irrelevant. Who

cares about arithmetic? I want to make apps.

In reality, arithmetical calculations and, sometimes, more complex

mathematics will be in every app you make.

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• Want to make a budget app? That’s full of arithmetic.

Matteo• Want Manferdini
to make some custom control or show a cool animation?
Swift and iOS Development Best Practices
You’ll need arithmetic for the coordinates of objects.
• Want to make a game? Games are full of stats that require
arithmetic: scores, character levels, speed of things, etc.

You can’t run away from maths.

Naming values using constants and

accumulating results in variables
No part of your program will be as simple and short as the examples
you often find online. As a program grows, it becomes harder to track
what values mean.

A fundamental part of programming is naming things. You can declare

constants using the let keyword and assign a value to it using the
assignment operator = .

let apples = 7
let oranges = 5
let bananas = 9
let itemCount = apples + oranges + bananas // 21

As the name implies, the value of a constant remains the same once it
is assigned. If you want to change a value with a name, you must use a
variable instead. Variables are declared using the var keyword.

For example, at times, you won’t have all the values you need at once,
but you will need to accumulate them as your program progresses, or
a user interacts with your app.

let apples = 7

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var itemCount = apples

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let oranges = 5
itemCount = itemCount + oranges // 12
Swift and iOS Development Best Practices
let bananas = 9
itemCount = itemCount + bananas // 21

This pattern of altering an existing variable by adding or subtracting

something to its value is so common that Swift has several compound
assignment operators to achieve the same result more concisely.

let apples = 7
var itemCount = apples
let oranges = 5
itemCount += oranges // 12
let bananas = 9
itemCount += bananas // 21

Creating and manipulating text using

strings and characters
After numbers, text is the other most common type of value you will
use in your programs.

In programming, text is managed using strings, i.e., sequences of

characters delimited by double quotes. The "Hello, World"! you saw in
the example above is a string.

Like any other value, strings can be stored in constants or variables

and combined using operators.

let subject = "I"

let verb = "have"
let object = "apples and oranges"
let sentence = subject + " " + verb + " " + object

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// I have apples and oranges

Matteo Manferdini
Swift and iOS Development Best Practices

You will often need to insert other values inside a string to change it
dynamically based on your app’s data. These values will usually be
numbers or other strings.

You do so by using string interpolation.

let apples = 7
let oranges = 5
let sentence = "I have \(apples) apples and \(oranges) oranges"
// I have 7 apples and 5 oranges

Chapter 3

Controlling the flow of execution

of a program

Performing arithmetic calculations and creating human-readable

string messages are at the core of every Swift program. However, if
programming were limited to just these operations, it would merely
function as a glorified calculator.

The true power of programming lies in making decisions, branching

code based on certain conditions, controlling the order of code
execution, and repeating instructions.

This collection of features is commonly referred to as control flow

features in programming. In Swift, control flow is primarily managed

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through conditional statements such as if-else statements and for

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loops. Manferdini
Swift and iOS Development Best Practices

1. Taking decisions and branching the execution flow

2. Quickly selecting a value based on a condition
3. Exiting early from functions in case of errors or exceptional
conditions
4. Executing different blocks of code based on complex conditions
5. Repeating instructions and iterating over sequences of values

Taking decisions and branching the

execution flow
The if-else statement is the most fundamental and commonly used
control flow feature in any programming language. It allows you to
execute different code blocks based on whether a condition is true or
false.

let temperature = 25
if temperature > 30 {
print("It's hot today.")
} else if temperature < 10 {
print("It's cold today.")
} else {
print("It's a nice day.")
}
// Prints "It's a nice day."

In this example, the condition temperature > 30 is evaluated first:

• If it is true , the first block of code is executed, and the rest of

the statement is skipped.
• If it is false , the condition temperature < 10 is evaluated next.
• If that is true , the second code block is executed, and the rest

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of the statement is skipped.

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• If it Manferdini
is false , the final code block is executed as a default case.
Swift and iOS Development Best Practices

The true and false values are called booleans. They are often
obtained by evaluating boolean expressions, which consist of
comparison operators such as the equal == , less than < , and greater
than > operators, as well as logical operators like the negation ! ,
the conjunction && and disjunction || operators.

Further reading: Take Decisions in Swift with If Statements and

Boolean Operators

Quickly selecting a value based on a

condition
The ternary operator is a concise shorthand for writing an if-else
statement that returns a value based on a condition. It is a handy tool
for creating a compact conditional statement to select a value.

let grade = 85
let result = grade >= 60 ? "Pass" : "Fail"
print(result)
// Prints "Pass"

The code above is functionally equivalent to the following complete

if-else statement.

let grade = 85
let result: String
if grade >= 60 {
result = "Pass"
} else {
result = "Fail"
}

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print(result)

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// Prints "Pass"

Swift and iOS Development Best Practices

While the ternary operator can be helpful, it should be used

judiciously and not excessively or with excessive nesting, as it can
reduce code readability and maintainability.

Further reading: Write Shorter Conditions with the Swift Ternary

Operator

Exiting early from functions in case

of errors or exceptional conditions
The guard statement is an alternative to conditional statements that
allows for early termination from a function or loop if a specific
condition is unsatisfied.

func greet(name: String?) {

guard let name = name else {
print("No name provided.")
return
}
print("Hello, \(name)!")
}

greet(name: "Alice")
// Prints "Hello, Alice!"
greet(name: nil)
// Prints "No name provided."

guardstatements resemble inverted if-else statements, prompting

the question of why they are necessary.

While it is true that you can accomplish the same outcome with an

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if-else statement, a guard statement clearly indicates an early exit.

Matteo Manferdini
Swift and iOS Development Best Practices
guard statements also aid in maintaining a coherent flow, placing the
main execution path closer to the left, handling errors and exceptions
in proximity to their corresponding tests, and minimizing the need for
nested if-else statements, enhancing readability and clarity.

Further reading: Using Guards in Swift to Avoid the Pyramid of Doom

Executing different blocks of code

based on complex conditions
statements are an alternative method for writing conditional
Switch

statements that allow you to execute different code blocks based on

matching a value against multiple possible patterns.

let animal = "cat"

switch animal {
case "dog":
print("Woof")
case "cat":
print("Meow")
case "cow":
print("Moo")
default:
print("Unknown animal")
}
// Prints "Meow"

While statements may appear to achieve similar functionality

switch

as if-else statements with multiple clauses, they offer significantly

greater power and flexibility.

They can:

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• Match various patterns, including ranges, tuples, enums, and

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types.
Swift and iOS Development Best Practices
• Assign matched values to temporary constants or variables for
use within the case’s body.
• Express complex matching conditions using a where clause for
each case.
• Enhance readability and code reuse through compound cases
and fallthrough statements.

Further reading: Switch Statements in Swift: Selecting Among

Multiple Options

Repeating instructions and iterating

over sequences of values
Besides making decisions and changing the order of execution, Swift
programs often require repeating instructions.

While a loop can be repeated a definite or indefinite number of times,

the most common use of a loop is to iterate over a sequence of values,
such as an array, a dictionary, a range, or a string.

for loops are Swift’s most common and valuable control flow
features, and they are well-suited for iterating over arrays.

let names = ["Anna", "Alex", "Brian", "Jack"]

for name in names {
print("Hello, \(name)!")
}
// Hello, Anna!
// Hello, Alex!
// Hello, Brian!
// Hello, Jack!

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for loops can also iterate over dictionaries, which are unordered
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collectionsManferdini
of key-value pairs. When iterating over a dictionary, each
Swift and iOS Development Best Practices
item is returned as a tuple, and you can decompose the tuple’s
members into explicitly named constants for use within the loop’s
body.

let numberOfLegs = ["spider": 8, "ant": 6, "cat": 4]

for (animalName, legCount) in numberOfLegs {
print("\(animalName)s have \(legCount) legs")
}
// spiders have 8 legs
// ants have 6 legs
// cats have 4 legs

Suppose you don’t have a collection of values but still need to repeat
some instructions a definite number of times. In that case, you can use
forloops to iterate over ranges of numbers using either the closed
range operator ... or the half-open range operator ..< .

for index in 1...5 {

print("\(index) times 5 is \(index * 5)")
}
// 1 times 5 is 5
// 2 times 5 is 10
// 3 times 5 is 15
// 4 times 5 is 20
// 5 times 5 is 25

Further reading: For loops in Swift: a Detailed List of the Most

Practical Uses

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Matteo Manferdini
Chapter 4
Swift and iOS Development Best Practices

Further reading

This is an ongoing series of articles on Swift for beginners. The series

is currently under development, so bookmark this page and check it
periodically.

Here are other articles in the series:

• Swift Arrays: The Most Used Collection to Organize Data

• Organizing Data by Key in Swift Dictionaries
• Computed properties in Swift: A basic feature for safer and
cleaner code
• Weak Self in Swift Made Easy: What it is and why it’s needed
• Master Swift Generics: A practical guide to code reuse

SwiftUI App Architecture: Design

Patterns and Best Practices
It's easy to make an app by throwing
some code together. But without best
practices and robust architecture, you
soon end up with unmanageable
spaghetti code. In this guide I'll show
you how to properly structure SwiftUI
apps.

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Matteo Manferdini
Swift and iOS Development Best Practices

Matteo Manferdini
Matteo has been developing apps for iOS since 2008. He has been
teaching iOS development best practices to hundreds of students
since 2015 and he is the developer of Vulcan, a macOS app to
generate SwiftUI code. Before that he was a freelance iOS
developer for small and big clients, including TomTom, Squla,
Siilo, and Layar. Matteo got a master’s degree in computer science and
computational logic at the University of Turin. In his spare time he dances and
teaches tango.

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