I’ve been in the tech publishing industry for 25 years, but that no more makes me a programmer than someone watching football on TV for a quarter of a century makes them a quarterback.
Appcleaner for mac. Code is my Achilles’ heel. Its proximity to formulas makes me queasy. It’s not that I can’t understand any code. Back in high school, I was a whiz at geometry, but then stumbled badly in chemistry and trigonometry. Similarly, I spent a summer learning BASIC and coding an incredibly simple program. I’ve also tackled HTML, but when it came to JavaScript, I could do some, but almost entirely based on code I’d copied and modified from other sites.
Jul 22, 2016 Question: Q: Can I download swift playground on my mac More Less. Apple Footer. This site contains user submitted content, comments and opinions and is for informational purposes only. Apple may provide or recommend responses as a possible solution based on the information provided; every potential issue may involve several factors not detailed. Run Swift is a web tool where you can easily try Apple's Swift language online. Just paste any snippet, switch to the Swift version you prefer (either 2.2 - without Foundation support - 3.1, or 4.0-dev) and click Run.You may also Save your scripts and/or share with the world. If what you're looking for is an easy-to-use tool for your Mac, to quickly test and run Swift code, then you may want. Apple's new Swift Playgrounds iPad app is designed to teach kids how to code and create apps. We look at how Swift Playgrounds aims to teach a new generation the basics of coding, and how teachers. Swift Playgrounds is an Education App, developed by Apple. This site is not directly affiliated with the developers - Apple. This site is not directly affiliated with the developers - Apple. All trademarks, registered trademarks, product names and company names or logos mentioned herein are the property of their respective owners.
Real programming and code baffles and terrifies me.
A few years ago, Apple introduced the Swift programming language as a sort of simple gateway drug for deeper, Xcode programming. It could be the foundation of real apps in the formal language.
The first time I saw some of the code up on screen at WWDC 2014, I felt like I sort of got it. I recognized some of the words and structure.
That’s why, ostensibly, Apple's new, free code-training app Swift Playgrounds should be for me and much more agile-minded students. During the recent iPhone 7 launch, Apple also introduced Everyone Can Code, an educational initiative designed to help get code training — specifically Swift code training — into schools and curriculums. Playgrounds is a key part of that program.
On Tuesday, Apple drops Swift Playgrounds in the app store. I've been immersing myself in this iPad-based code school for a week.
Now, as I stare at a Swift Playground lesson plan, I realize I was half right. Yes, there is something intrinsically knowable about Swift, but there’s still the code-theory leap that my mind struggles to make.
This, of course, is probably just me.
Inside the code
Swift Playgrounds is partially just that, a coding playground where you can repeatedly try out different commands, calls and code variations to propel entertaining animations over and over again. You are, in essence, the code-breaker and maker here.
And you’re doing it on the iPad, a platform that’s generally thought of as the place where you consume the result of code, not create it.
The basic lesson plan, called Fundamentals of Swift (there's also second one called, naturally, Beyond the Basics), is set up so there’s code on the left-hand side of the screen and an animated environment on the right that’s driven, almost in real time, by your code. Each lesson offers a challenge designed to teach you one rudimentary piece of Swift code. You can also try some of the challenges, which let you alter code and change the functionality of pre-built games and apps like Blink. Blink is a simple grid — almost a Minesweeper-style game — where surrounding cubes influenced the kind color cube I could have in cube clusters. Apple plans on adding more of those challenges over time.
Fundamentals, though, eases you into code. It starts with command and the style in which Swift commands are written. At this level, the commands use English language words and follow a clear and consistent pattern. What’s more, the iPad’s virtual keyboard and QuickType suggestions immediately offer the nearest, best code option as soon as you start typing a letter. Typing in “t” will, for example, show “turnLeft ()” which is, naturally a turn left command. Typing “m” brings up “moveForward.” I can then click on any of the commands to add them.
To my surprise and pleasure, I breezed through a series of command lessons. Each time driving the animated character, Byte (you can choose from among three animated oddballs), to move forward, toggle switches and collect gems in the right order or, at least, to the satisfaction of the app, which would cheer my progress.
Going deeper
Things got a bit trickier at Functions, which let me group some of these commands or tasks. It took me a while to figure out that I define the Function, with all its embedded commands, at the top of the programs. After that, I just call the Function below to execute the series, as many times as I wanted. In between the Functions, I used smaller commands, like “moveForward ()” to tie together these groupings, sort of like the cartilage that joins more complex bone. https://usedrenew818.weebly.com/blog/free-mmorpg-game-for-mac.
To be honest, I was stumped by this simple fact for a good 30 minutes and Swift Playgrounds didn't quite help. One reason is that, while you can write code, compile (done by simply hitting “Run My Program”) and run it over and over again, watching as Byte runs and, sometimes, stumbles through, your poorly written commands, the app doesn't highlight the exact command that’s executing at the exact moment that Byte is performing an action. That’s something that would have been invaluable to me as I tried to debug my code.
To get around this, I added spaces between chunks of code so I could keep track of what Byte was doing in relation to the code. This helped me make it through Functions to Loops. I then somehow solved the first lesson in Loops in one try. Seriously, it took me about a minute.
Swift Playgrounds would let me go as far as I wanted with the code. The first Lesson goes all the way into Algorithms, which scare me.
However, if I can get through to Beyond the Basics, Playgrounds will even let me write code that accesses the iPad's sensors and camera. I'll also be able to import my own visual assets and program them, all of which is almost enough to make me want to push through my coding fears.
Whatever I choose to do, the whole system is self-guided and designed to let me jump around as much as I like. I can even accelerate the program playback, if I want (worth doing since Byte moves through tasks pretty slowly – a playback speed slider would be helpful here). The problem with doing that, though, is if you jump ahead, you get lost, as I did. Some things still made sense, while others did not. Learning to code requires patience, which is why the animated program playground is so smart. It turns learning to program into a series of puzzles and games. The desire to learn is driven by the desire to solve the puzzle.
A dawning realization
The more time I spent within Swift Playgrounds, the more I realized that it’s really written exactly for people like me, as well as children and people of all ages, who want to code.
I can’t say that I ever felt comfortable coding or that what I’ve learned rooted itself into some hidden cranny in my brain – a half-day away from it and I feel lost. However, that isn’t entirely true; I am starting to see the patterns. And now I remember something about my old HTML and JavaScript coding days.
At the start, they too left me confused and bereft, but through sheer repetition and a ton of trial and error, I eventually became an expert at HTML and comfortable with at least 60 percent of JavaScript.
That’s what Swift Playgrounds asks of you. Do the code and do it again, with the carrot of an entertaining avatar plating out your code creations over and over again, looking sad when you fail and elated when you succeed.
I don’t know if this is the beginning of me, perhaps, coding a basic app and graduating to Xcode or not (probably not), but for anyone who wants to get started learning (or teaching) solid, baseline coding skills in a touch-based envrioment, Swift Playground is an excellent place to start.
Swift Playground For WindowsApple Swift PlaygroundsApple Swift Playground For MacThe Good
Pretty easy to follow • Comprehensive • Sometimes entertaining • Free
The BadThe Bottom Line
No matter your age or skill level, if you want to learn Swift programming, this is the free app for you.
When Apple introduced macOS Mojave at WWDC 2018, it also launched four ‘Marzipan’ apps: News, Voice Memos, Home, and Stocks. They’re iPad apps for the desktop, but Apple missed its most important opportunity in Swift Playgrounds.
Let’s first rewind to WWDC, when we said this about Apple’s new cross-platform apps:
Apple didn’t say as much, but its four revamped native apps show that it feels iPad apps are best suited for the desktop. News, for example, uses the same side-bar for the Mac as its iPad version. Each adopts the iPad user interface (which is, at times, a blown-up iPhone app).
Each of the four are meant to be treated and appreciated as macOS apps, but they’re not. They’re ports of iPad apps, through and through – and sometimes pretty clumsy as a result. They don’t have the same UX paradigms as mobile; things like tapping the top of the window to scroll back to the top are missing. Still, they’re usable, and good enough.
Apple likes to hang its macOS hat on professionals. Its marketing buzz for the Mac aims directly at pros and those with bigger aspirations. The huge tech pro market (made up of professionals and wannabes) is watching ‘Marzipan’ closely. The project is either cheapening the Mac, or knocking down two of Apple’s walled gardens (iOS and macOS) and building a tunnel between them; it’s simply too early to know the final result.
But Swift Playgrounds for the Mac would have made an effective olive branch to one of Apple’s most critical pro audiences. Learning to program isn’t easy, and Swift Playgrounds tries to make it simpler. In addition to teaching how to problem-solve, the iPad app does a sensational job of helping learners scale their knowledge base. But once those learning Swift are finished with Playgrounds for iPad, the next step is Xcode – and that’s a huge leap.
The Verge tackled this topic nicely, pointing out that Swift Playgrounds feeds a learner’s desire to get things working rather than digging through hard bits of code; augmented reality (AR) is used as an example. In Swift Playgrounds, you’re simply stringing pre-fabricated code snippets together. It’s a means to help you grasp the concepts of AR, but the crowd excited about virtual robots, who naturally want to take the logical next steps to writing apps, will find Xcode’s high-dive into complex math and API calls difficult to understand (or master).
In 2016, we offered a similar caution, writing: “As good as it is, Swift Playgrounds won’t leave you ready to dive into Xcode to create an app.”
Xcode has a Playground environment. It’s meant to give developers space to tinker with those API calls and complex mathematical functions. Like its iPad counterpart, it shows you the outcome in a visual container next to your code. If anything, it’s the logical successor to Swift Playgrounds on the iPad. Apple just failed to knock down some walls and bridge the gap between a standalone Playgrounds app and Xcode’s powerful code workshop.
Xcode 10 is great at handling code completion and otherwise helping developers get work done faster. Such assistance also helps someone who isn’t adept at the finer points of coding (i.e., most people using Swift Playgrounds). But as Apple continues to market its hardware to professionals, we’re left wondering how it plans to usher in the next wave of iOS and macOS developers.
There’s no real reason Apple couldn’t have made Swift Playgrounds available for the Mac. It might lack some features, like the ability to download more lessons, but simply bundling them or offering them in future updates would have sufficed.
All told, we’d rather see Swift Playgrounds on the Mac than Xcode on an iPad, but it’s clear something will have to give on this front. Swift is gaining language server protocol support, which will open it up to other IDEs like Visual Studio Code. If Apple leaves those learning Swift hanging, it’s very possible it will also lose a swath of its younger tech pro market.
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