4 ms·

1. Why the hell is this an iOS app? 2. How the hell is this an iOS app?

by Cyberdog 11y ago

jamisteven 11y ago
Because swift is for apple...?
- thawkins 11y ago
  Not any more, the opensource vesion is here, runs on ubuntu and fedora (i hae got it compiled on fedora). Enterprising souls are right now working on a windows version.
- Cyberdog 11y ago
  In practice, nobody is seriously writing Swift code (or any other code) on iOS devices. My meaning was I don't understand why this is an iOS app instead of a Mac app or even a web one (like IBM's Swift sandbox[1]). That being said, I'm kind of impressed someone managed to get an app on the App Store that can do this. I know that Apple loosened its restrictions on code execution on iOS a while back, but as far as I am aware there's no way to compile Swift on ARM… did they write their own compiler/runtime or something? 1: https://developer.ibm.com/swift/2015/12/03/introducing-the-ibm-swift-sandbox/ https://developer.ibm.com/swift/2015/12/03/introducing-the-i...
  - jonsen 11y ago
    It is a learning tool. Handy to have on a mobile device. Learn while commuting for example.
  - kazazes 11y ago
    The lessons and exercises are limited in scope enough that they are entirely static. The work the app needs to do is limited to parsing, stylizing, checking (simple) syntax and matching user input to the task, not executing it. The lessons themselves are no more complex than a programming PPT presentation that looks prettier.
    - Cyberdog 11y ago
      All the more reason iOS is a bizarre platform for this, then.
      - nilliams 11y ago
        What's bizarre about it? Apple developers tend to own other Apple devices and are likely to want to learn Swift on the go.
joslin01 11y ago
Not a crazy question, but I'm guessing it's so users can feel comfortable learning Swift wherever they are. Yes, it's true that you should be on Xcode for serious development but I'm guessing this is aimed at the user who has never coded in Swift before.
cballard 11y ago
Why is this downvoted so heavily? Seriously, how is this implemented? I don't think Emscripten works with Swift yet, and even if it did, there hasn't been enough time since the open source release to implement an entire app.
Terribledactyl 11y ago
1) It's kind fun, like an interactive text book. 2) Not actually running any (of your) code, or coding really. Tap this to fill in a string, or to select an operator from a few approved.
Angostura 11y ago
Umm, I used it while sitting in my daughters' swimming gala for several hours. It was splendid. At one point in the tutorial they suggest that you might want to open Xcode alongside, but tutorials on the Tube etc. are great.

1. Why the hell is this an iOS app? 2. How the hell is this an iOS app?

jamisteven 11y ago

Because swift is for apple...?

thawkins 11y ago
Not any more, the opensource vesion is here, runs on ubuntu and fedora (i hae got it compiled on fedora). Enterprising souls are right now working on a windows version.
Cyberdog 11y ago
In practice, nobody is seriously writing Swift code (or any other code) on iOS devices. My meaning was I don't understand why this is an iOS app instead of a Mac app or even a web one (like IBM's Swift sandbox[1]). That being said, I'm kind of impressed someone managed to get an app on the App Store that can do this. I know that Apple loosened its restrictions on code execution on iOS a while back, but as far as I am aware there's no way to compile Swift on ARM… did they write their own compiler/runtime or something? 1: https://developer.ibm.com/swift/2015/12/03/introducing-the-ibm-swift-sandbox/ https://developer.ibm.com/swift/2015/12/03/introducing-the-i...
- jonsen 11y ago
  It is a learning tool. Handy to have on a mobile device. Learn while commuting for example.
- kazazes 11y ago
  The lessons and exercises are limited in scope enough that they are entirely static. The work the app needs to do is limited to parsing, stylizing, checking (simple) syntax and matching user input to the task, not executing it. The lessons themselves are no more complex than a programming PPT presentation that looks prettier.
  - Cyberdog 11y ago
    All the more reason iOS is a bizarre platform for this, then.
    - nilliams 11y ago
      What's bizarre about it? Apple developers tend to own other Apple devices and are likely to want to learn Swift on the go.

joslin01 11y ago

Not a crazy question, but I'm guessing it's so users can feel comfortable learning Swift wherever they are. Yes, it's true that you should be on Xcode for serious development but I'm guessing this is aimed at the user who has never coded in Swift before.

cballard 11y ago

Why is this downvoted so heavily? Seriously, how is this implemented? I don't think Emscripten works with Swift yet, and even if it did, there hasn't been enough time since the open source release to implement an entire app.

Terribledactyl 11y ago

1) It's kind fun, like an interactive text book. 2) Not actually running any (of your) code, or coding really. Tap this to fill in a string, or to select an operator from a few approved.

Angostura 11y ago

Umm, I used it while sitting in my daughters' swimming gala for several hours. It was splendid. At one point in the tutorial they suggest that you might want to open Xcode alongside, but tutorials on the Tube etc. are great.