Find the detailed document The Swift Programming Language

Generally speaking, Swift is quite similar to Python or Ruby, but it keeps some C styles. It is more strong typed. If you are familiar with Python or Ruby, you can find many familiar features, like Array, Dictionary, Tuple.

You can have a look at the cheetsheet(pdf) to get a brief view of the Swift language.

Types

  • Int, Float, Double
  • Bool: true/false
  • String, Character
  • Array, Dictionary, Tuple

Variable and Constants

Use var to declare variables, and use let to declare constants.

var mutableVar = 10
var mutableDouble: Double = 1.0
let constVar = 10

Constant and variable names can contain almost any character, including Unicode characters:

var 电脑 = "computer"

Comments

Similar to C/C++ style comments, using // and /* */, but /* */ can bet nested.

// this is comment

/* this is commet */

/* this is comment
/* nested comment */
some more comment */

String and Character

Strings are collection of Character. Always use double quote to define string literals.

Use \(var_name) to include variable in string literals.

Use countElements to get the count of Character in a String.

var name = "Jack"
prinln("Your name is \(name)")
for ch in name {
  println(ch)
}
println(countElements(name))

Will produce:

Your name is Jack
J
a
c
k
4

Array and Dictionary

Arrays store ordered lists of values of the same type. Dictionaries store unordered collections of values of the same type, which can be referenced and looked up through a unique identifier (also known as a key).

Tuples group multiple values into a single compound value. The values within a tuple can be of any type and do not have to be of the same type as each other.

  • Array or [ValueType]
// declare
var empty = [Int]()
var numbers: [Int] = [1, 2, 3]  // preferred
var numbers2: Array<Int> = [1, 2, 3]
var cities = ["beijing", "shanghai", "tianjin", "chongqing"]

// append item
cities.append("guangzhou")
// add more items
cities += ["shengzhen", "qingdao"]
// access item by index
println(cities[0])  // beijing
// insert
cities.insert("Xiamen", atIndex: 3)
// remove item by index
cities.removeAtIndex(2) // tianjin removed
// count
print cities.count

// iterate array items
for city in cities {
  println(city)
}

// iterate with index
// 0: beijing
// ...
for (index, name) in enumerate(cities) {
  println("\(index): \(name)")"
}
  • Dictionary or [KeyType, ValueType]
var dict: [String, Int] = ["jack": 12, "bob": 14]
  • Tuple

Items in tuple can be different types. It is very useful for function return values.

let http404error = (404, "Not Found")
var code = http404error.0
var text = http404error.1
let (code, text) = http404error

You can name the individual elements in a tuple when the tuple is defined:

let http200Status = (statusCode: 200, description: "OK")
var code = http200status.statusCode

Control Flow

  • For, For in
  • If, Else
  • Switch, Case

Enum

Method

Class