Book Image

Swift Protocol-Oriented Programming - Fourth Edition

By : Jon Hoffman
Book Image

Swift Protocol-Oriented Programming - Fourth Edition

By: Jon Hoffman

Overview of this book

Protocol-oriented programming is an incredibly powerful concept at the heart of Swift's design. Swift's standard library was developed using POP techniques, generics, and first-class value semantics; therefore, it is important for every Swift developer to understand these core concepts and take advantage of them. The fourth edition of this book is improved and updated to the latest version of the Swift programming language. This book will help you understand what protocol-oriented programming is all about and how it is different from other programming paradigms such as object-oriented programming. This book covers topics such as generics, Copy-On-Write, extensions, and of course protocols. It also demonstrates how to use protocol-oriented programming techniques via real-world use cases. By the end of this book, you will know how to use protocol-oriented programming techniques to build powerful and practical applications.
Table of Contents (11 chapters)

Value and reference types

There are some fundamental differences between value types (structures, enumerations, and tuples) and reference types (classes). The primary difference is how the instances of value and reference types are passed. When we pass an instance of a value type, we are actually passing a copy of the original instance. This means that the changes made to one instance are not reflected back to the others. When we pass an instance of a reference type, we are passing a reference to the original instance. This means that both references point to the same instance; therefore, a change made to one reference will reflect in the others.

The explanation in the previous paragraph is a pretty straightforward explanation; however, it is a very important concept that you must understand. In this section, we are going to examine the differences between value and reference...