Let’s look at a few examples of what you run into when developing apps in Swift. The first part of this topic is focused primarily on syntax and variable declaration, whereas the second focuses on the workflow of structures and classes.
1. Type declaration and no semi-colons!
In Objective-C, we begin each declaration with a specific type, e.g. CGpoint or UIView. If we don’t know the type (or don’t care), we refer to it as id or instancetype. While type is important in Swift, it can often be easily inferred what type the variable or constant should be. You can still declare these types (e.g. Swift’s String, Dictionary or even AnyObject), but this will be redundant in many cases. As you examine the code below, note that Swift does not use semicolons to end each line of code, except in the rare case where you write two lines of code on a single line. Let’s jump in:
Objective-C:
//ex1
CGPoint aPoint = CGPointMake(9.0, 10.0);
//ex2
UIView *aView = [[UIView alloc] init];
In Swift, we have a smarter declaration that can infer a type by what is on the right-hand side. If we need or want to, we can always cast our variable to a specific type; but to do so it must go after the variable name.
Swift:
//ex1
let aPoint = CGPointMake(9.0, 10.0)
//or equivalently:
let aPoint: CGPoint = CGPointMake(9.0, 10.0)
//ex2
var aView = UIView()
//or equivalently:
let aView: UIView = UIView()
Under the hood, Swift infers the specific type from its declaration. For this reason, you must declare an object, otherwise you get the error “Type Annotation Missing in Pattern.”
There are ways to get around this by using Optionals, but the beauty of Swift lies in its safety of knowing that a given variable or constant will have a value. Optionals are special structures that give a nil option as a value, and promise two results. For example, say we are attempting to unwrap var someString:String?, it will return:
- Nil, because there is nothing in it, OR
- The string value
For more information on Optionals, read The Basics of Optionals in Swift.
But, wait! What happened to alloc] init]? Swift is built with efficiency in mind; it automatically keeps a reference count for you and manages it so that you don’t have to worry about allocating space. Lastly, you probably guessed why you don’t see the init. That’s because () is init! All you have to do is call myFavoriteFunction() without the hassle of memory management.
2. No more brackets! Hello dots!
That’s right! The thing that Objective-C developers have come to hate and then love is no longer available. The move away from brackets syntax is now replaced with a somewhat more conventional syntax: the dot syntax.
Now, even though dot syntax is used in Objective-C, Swift uses it almost exclusively for method calls and attributes.
Objective-C:
//ex1
CGFloat x = [aPoint x];
//or often used:
CGFloat x = aPoint.x;
[aView addSubView:[[UIView alloc] init]]];
In Objective-C, we can see the one common instance where dots are used (property retrieval). We also see how nesting brackets work to retrieve attributes or make method calls on other objects. In Swift, we ignore the bracket syntax on object calls, and explicitly use dot syntax:
Swift:
//ex1
let x = aPoint.x //equivalent to: let x:CGFloat = aPoint.x
//ex2
aView.addSubView(UIView())
From what we learned before, the first example hasn’t changed much. We can still get the attributes of an object the same as Objective-C; we just have to know the declaration syntax. The second example, though, is something different. Functions are much closer to variables in Swift—you can move them around and pass them into functions; so it makes sense that you can now call a method as if it were a variable. Voila!
3. How to Declare: Constants (let) v. Variables (var)
In Objective-C, we create our variables knowing that we will add/remove information or ensure the variables are static/immutable. We do this because there are times when we want the data to be modified and times when we want it as static as possible. Creating these immutable objects ensures safety as well as better memory allocation. Let’s take a look at Obective-C’s Dictionary:
Objective-C:
NSDictionary *dict = @{@"Hello": @"World"};
This is a simple assignment of an NSDictionary to the variable dict with a single key-value pair: “Hello”->“World”. dict is static and unchangeable (immutable). However, if we want to add or remove elements to a Dictionary object (mutable), we would have declared it like so:
Objective-C:
NSMutableDictionary *mutDict = [[NSMutableDictionary alloc] initWithDictionary:@{@"Hello": @"World"}];
[mutDict setObject: @"Hello Again" forKey: @"someKey"]; //add key-value
NSString str = [mutDict objectForKey:@"someKey"]; //retrieve value
Swift takes the idea of the immutable concept and makes it available to all constants. Swift also has native data structures that you will want to use (Dictionary, String, Int, Double, and Array). You can still use the NSDictionary and NSMutableDictionary (it’s unclear whether Apple wants to move away from those structures), but the use of Swift’s Dictionary is optimized and should therefore be used in our context.
The let declaration defines a constant of any type, but does so in the thought that you can access it, compare it, and even change it in certain circumstances, all while keeping an efficient use of memory. Let’s take a look:
Swift:
let aDictionary = ["SomeKey", "HelloWorld"]
This creates a constant that has a dictionary with a key-value pair: “SomeKey”->“HelloWorld”. This is very similar to the notion of immutability, such that we cannot add or change the value of this given dictionary. Under the hood, when we create a constant dictionary, we are essentially doing this:
Swift:
let aDictionary: Dictionary<String, String> = ["SomeKey", "HelloWorld"]
Didn’t expect that, did you? Another thing about Swift data structures is that you have to be explicit on what you want stored in the dictionary:
Dictionary<KEY data-preserve-html-node=“true”
: HASHABLE, VALUE>.
KEY is the type you will be using to set as the key. The one requirement of this type is that it is hashable so that it can be referenced easily. VALUE is the value type that you want your object to be stored as. The example below uses String at the KEY and AnyObject is the type for VALUE:
Swift:
var aMutDictionary = Dictionary<String, AnyObject>()
aMutDictionary["aKey"] = SomeObject //add key-value
let obj: AnyObject = aMutDictionary["aKey"] //retrieve value
You may be asking, “Why would I use one over the other?” In many circumstances, you will want a variable so that you can add to it, change it, and even replace it with a new instance. All this can be done in the var.
However, if you are just storing a string to retrieve the information, or storing a static-amount of values in an array, you should use let. Swift will optimize your app the best that it can if you use more constant variables. let is also very helpful when you want to store a value, let num = 5. num can be accessed and even moved with the safety of knowing it will not change. let is also very important to use because the compiler will inform you as you are typing that there will be something wrong. You don’t have to wait until runtime for your errors to be found, making the app process even easier.
NEXT UP:
Stay tuned for Part 2, where we will cover Functions, Generics, and more. For now, a little teaser: One example that you will find different from Objective-C is that a function with Generics can take any variable as an input. A topic that we will discuss next time is conforming to these generic functions. In the meantime, generic functions allow you to extend the purpose of one type to many types (e.g. Counting Number of Elements):
Swift:
let str = "Hello World!"
let strLength = countElements(str)
// also:
let arr = ["Hello", "World!"]
let arrLength = countElements(arr)
CountElementsT and return its number of elements. As you can imagine, there are be instances where this could go wrong, but if you’re familiar with generics, you just have to find ways for your objects to conform to the method. Until next time!
