Preface

This book aims to teach experienced developers how to leverage the latest Swift language features. With Swift, Apple's new programming language for macOS, iOS, watchOS, tvOS, and Linux, you can write software that is fast and helps promote safer coding practices. With Swift and Xcode playgrounds, Apple has made it easy for developers to learn about the best practices and new programming concepts. Apple has open sourced the Swift language, that is, they have made it available on a wide range of platforms now, not just the Apple ecosystem. By doing this, developers are now able to develop server-side code on multiple platforms, in addition to developing code for the traditional line of Apple products.

Today, so many consumers are dependent on their smartphones and Internet access, the effect being the amount of data is growing exponentially, and being able to process, sort, and search that data as quickly as possible is more important than ever. Understanding how data structures and algorithms affect the efficiency of processing huge amounts of data is the key to any successful application or software library.

You will learn about the important Swift features and the most relevant data structures and algorithms, using a hands-on approach with code samples in Xcode Playgrounds for each data structure and algorithm covered in this book. We teach you factors to consider when selecting one type or method over another. You also learn how to measure the performance of your code using asymptotic analysis, a concept commonly used in the software industry in order to choose the best algorithm and data structure for a particular use case.

With knowledge learned in this book, you will have the best tools available to help you develop efficient and scalable software for your applications.

We hope you enjoy reading the book and learning more about some of the advanced Swift features, while also understanding how slight modifications to your existing code can dramatically improve the performance of your applications.