Swift is a general-purpose programming language that prioritizes safety, performance, and modern software design patterns. It aims to be the best language for a wide range of uses, from systems programming to mobile and desktop app development, and even scaling up to cloud services.
One of the key goals of Swift is to make writing and maintaining correct programs easier for developers. It achieves this by promoting safety as a fundamental principle. The most obvious way to write Swift code should behave in a safe manner, as undefined behavior is considered a threat to safety. Swift's emphasis on safety may sometimes result in strictness, but the focus on clarity ultimately saves time in the long run.
In addition to safety, Swift aims to offer high performance comparable to C-based languages like C, C++, and Objective-C. Performance should not only be fast in short bursts but also predictable and consistent. While there are many programming languages with unique features, being fast is considered a rarity.
Swift also values expressiveness and benefits from advancements in computer science. It offers a syntax that developers find enjoyable to use, incorporating modern features expected in contemporary programming languages. Swift is continuously evolving, monitoring language advancements, and embracing what works to further improve the language.
Tools are a vital component of the Swift ecosystem. The Swift team strives to integrate well with developers' existing toolsets, enabling them to build quickly, providing excellent diagnostics, and supporting interactive development experiences. Swift-based playgrounds in Xcode and web-based REPLs for working with Linux server-side code are examples of how tools enhance the programming experience and make it more powerful.
Articles
Introduction
- Swift Programming Language
- Download and Install
- Swift Programming Language Basics
- Community Overview
- License and Copyright
- Development
- Evolution
- Server
Basics
- Constants and Variables
- Declaring Constants and Variables
- Type Annotations
- Naming Constants and Variables
- Printing Constants and Variables
- Comments
- Semicolons
- Integers
- Floating-Point Numbers
- Type Safety and Type Inference
- Numeric Literals
- Numeric Type Conversion
- Integer Conversion
- Integer and Floating-Point Conversion
- Type Aliases
- Booleans
- Tuples
- Optionals
- If Statements and Forced Unwrapping
- Optional Binding
- Implicitly Unwrapped Optionals
- Error Handling
- Assertions and Preconditions
- Debugging with Assertions
- Enforcing Preconditions
- Using fatalError
