Is Swift a good language for a beginner to learn?

Using Swift
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Hey Guys,

I am a new programmer. And I want to enhance my skills in the field. Looking for the programming language, I came across Swift. As you all know, Swift is a popular, powerful, and simple programming language for iOS, macOS, tvOS, and watchOS.

Swift is interactive and fun to write, the syntax is concise and expressive, and Swift has all of the modern features that developers love.

Swift is quick and safe, making it ideal for beginners and experienced programmers. It is a great choice for beginners because it is easy to read and write, and experienced programmers can take advantage of its power and flexibility.

Still, I have some concerns about it. Hope you guys will help me out with it.

Is it possible to learn Swift if you're a novice?

Is it possible to program in the Swift programming language on Linux?

How difficult is Swift to learn?

Could the Swift programming language become as popular as C/C++?

How long does it take to learn Swift from the ground up?

What are the advantages of learning the SWIFT language?

Where can I find coupons for Swift language? I want to learn the language, but my budget is low, so I am looking for some discount codes or deals to learn this language.

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Yes!

It is, indeed. However, developing for apple platforms (iOS, macOS, watchOS) is not possible on linux. Because of swift's main popularity with developing for apple platforms, you'll find much more materials for developing with swift on macOS than you will on Linux.

This is very subjective, so take this with a grain of salt. I don't think it provides as many barriers to getting started as something like Rust or even C/C++, but is a bit more complicated to pick up than languages like JavaScript. Ultimately, I don't think you should base your decision on this criteria.

It's important to understand that Swift, and many other languages, are very big and you will never learn it all, just what you need to perform the next task.

Could it? Yes. Will it? Unlikely. However, there is a (slow) shift in the industry away from languages like C & C++, but it's not all necessarily to Swift.

I think you will be most happy if you choose the language you want to learn based on what things you want to build. If you want to build iOS/macOS apps, learn Swift, Android - Learn Java/Kotlin, Frontend websites - JavaScript/Typescript. If you want to build backend web servers, you can use many languages and be successful.

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Is it possible to learn Swift if you're a novice?

Yes, it's possible to learn any language if you're a novice. A better question to ask is how steep the learning curve is. While Swift has concise syntax, it's a very complex language and has lots of features that you'll need to learn in order to read and write Swift code properly. The learning curve for Swift isn't as steep as C++, but it's steeper than something like Golang.

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yes. there would be no swift developers if it weren’t.

yes. not only is it possible to use swift on linux, in 2022 linux is probably the preferred platform for swift development. this was not true as recently as 1 or 2 years ago, when macOS was still better-supported than linux. but the macOS situation has deteriorated markedly since then.

the caveat is it’s still probably much easier to learn swift on macOS than on linux, especially learning the tooling because Apple does a better job with education and putting the tooling “in front” of people. but if you are someone who already knows which bricks in the wall to push, swift on linux is way easier than swift on macOS.

swift is one of the harder languages to learn, because it is very assumption-driven and requires a more “abstract” programming psychology. languages like C++ or Rust are easier for beginners to “see the matrix” in terms of how source code maps to compiled machine code. but the abstractness of swift makes it a more powerful language, and also offers a lot more optimization opportunities for the compiler.

no. swift and C exist to fill different niches. C is an interchange language, and without it swift would not be able to interface with other code written in Rust, Go, C++, Python, etc.

swift and C++ fill the same niche, and all swift developers believe swift is superior to C++ in nearly every way, otherwise we would be C++ developers. but C++ has institutional entrenchment, so it’s unlikely swift will ever meaningfully cut into its market share.

3 to 4 years, same as any programming language.

but i have been using swift for almost 7 years and i still learn something new about the language every day, so it’s not really a halting process.

swift is a very portable language and there will almost never be situations where something cannot be done because of a fundamental constraint of the language. usually when something cannot be done in swift, the blocker is not technical, it is social, political, or ecosystemic in nature.

if you learn swift for say, iOS development, you can switch to server-side, systems, or embedded development without having to pick up a completely new language. there are not a lot of languages that have as wide a gamut as swift does.

the lower bound of the language is GPU/TPU. swift cannot replace CUDA.
the upper bound of the language is scripting, but this is because of poor library support, not the design of the language itself. swift can replace python, it’s just not a very efficient workflow for now.

in the recruiting world, swift is a prestige language (like Rust). the assumption (true or not) is we can all write C++ or python or whatever commercial language they are using, we just choose not to. so swift developers are among the most highly paid specialists among major languages.

this is not how swift, or programming languages in general, are learned.

1 Like
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Yeah, nobody releases languages without at least basic documentation these days.

The official Swift docs are here: Swift.org - Documentation
Apple's docs expand on those if you're developing for their OSs: Swift | Apple Developer Documentation
I don't know how often he comes by the forums these days, but @Paul_Hudson's "Hacking With Swift" (mostly iOS-focused, IIRC) website has both paid and free resources: https://www.hackingwithswift.com
I'm not aware of anything specifically for Windows, Linux, or Android, but aside from GUI stuff, it's mostly the same. There are some gotchas with, for example, file paths since Windows uses "\" as the path separator and (AFAIK) literally every other "in current production" OS on the planet uses "/", but by and large it should all be the same.

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Free

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A programming language is learned to make stuff. I assume OP's intention is to learn to make apps for iOS/macOS, as this is the common path for Swift learners. And this involves acquiring Apple's hardware in $$$$ range (Mac desktop/laptop, iPhone/iPad), and Apple Developer subscription.

Apple provides a discount to college students in selected countries Education Pricing and Student Discounts - Education - Apple

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Hey Guys,

Thank you for the wonderful response! Your replies were helpful, and I learned some great answers to my questions from all the feedback. For your convenience, I'm sharing them here.

  1. Yes, anyone can learn Swift regardless of experience. The key is to find the right resources and put in consistent effort. Start by reading online tutorials, watching videos, or enrolling in an online course.

  2. Yes, Swift can be used to write programs on Linux. You need to install the Swift toolchain and development environment for Linux. Once done, you can start writing apps in Swift on your Linux distribution of choice.

  3. Learning Swift is not difficult, but it does require some dedication and effort. To learn the basics of Swift, you need to understand key programming concepts like variables, functions, data types, control flow, classes, and more. Once you understand these fundamentals of coding, then learning advanced concepts such as optional or protocol-oriented programming will be much easier. Ultimately, it is up to you how quickly you can learn Swift, but with some practice and dedication, you can write apps in no time.

  4. The answer to this question is difficult to determine. Apple developers have widely adopted Swift because of its simplicity and readability, which make it a popular choice for developing sophisticated applications. While there are similarities between Swift and C/C++, they are different languages with different syntaxes.

  5. The amount of time it takes to learn Swift from the ground up will vary depending on your existing knowledge and experience. For a beginner, it could take about a month or two to become comfortable with the basics of the language. If you already have some programming experience, you can probably pick up Swift much faster.

  6. Learning the Swift language offers several advantages to developers. First, it is a modern, easy-to-use programming language that makes coding easier and more efficient. Additionally, as an open-source programming language, it provides access to powerful tools and frameworks. Finally, apps written in Swift are faster and more secure than those written in other languages, making them more attractive to users. Swift is especially attractive for creating mobile, desktop, and web applications.

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