Intro to Swift and iOS App Development

Learn the Swift programming language, used to create Apple iOS apps.

Class Description

Swift is one of the fastest growing languages today. Known as the language for creating iPhone apps, it is also used to program desktop Mac apps, watch and tv apps, and even software that runs on a web server.

We introduce the Swift language to students starting with the basics: variables, branching, loops, collections, and functions. Then, we move on to higher-level concepts - optionals, classes, structs, and closures. Students will learn about protocol-oriented programming and value-types vs. reference-types.

Students will also learn how to create user interfaces. We will learn about views and view controllers, table views and table view cells. Students will learn how to design views using Interface Builder and storyboards, how to write code that interacts with a user interface, and how to create an app that has multiple views in it.

Finally, we will discuss other technologies that are available on the iOS platform for us to play with - gestures, accelerometer & gyroscope, the camera and media playback.

Because of the nature of the material, this class will meet for twice as long as our normal classes: 16 times instead of our normal 8 times.  Please take this into consideration when planning your schedule!

Prerequisites

Students should have some programming experience in any language (e.g.: Java, JavaScript, or Python). Call or email if you are unsure if this class will be a good fit!

Software

Students will be taught how to code in Swift using Xcode - a free application from Apple.

Computers

Students should bring their own Mac laptops to class. We do not yet have Mac equipment available for studehts in the classroom - we're working on it. Please download and install Xcode beforehand!