In object-oriented programming, we cannot create an object without a blueprint that tells the application what properties and methods to expect from the object. In most object-oriented languages, this blueprint comes in the form of a class. A class is a construct that allows us to encapsulate the properties, methods, and initializers of an object into a single type. Classes can also include other items, such as subscripts; however, we are going to focus on the basic items that make up classes, not only in Swift, but in other languages as well.

Let's look at how we would use a class in Swift:

class Myclass {
    var oneProperty: String 
 
    init(oneProperty: String) { 
        self.oneProperty = oneProperty 
    } 
 
    func oneFunction() { 
 
    } 
} 

An instance of a class is typically called an object. However, in Swift, structures and classes have many of the...

Apple has said that Swift developers should prefer value types over reference types, and it seems that they have also taken that philosophy to heart. If we look at the Swift standard library (http://swiftdoc.org), we will see that the majority of types are implemented using structures. The reason Apple is able to implement the majority of Swift's standard library with structures is that, in Swift, structures have many of the same functionalities as classes. There are, however, some fundamental differences between classes and structures, and we will be looking at these differences later in this chapter.

In Swift, a structure is a construct that allows us to encapsulate the properties, methods, and initializers of an instance into a single type. They can also include other items, such as subscripts. However, we are going to focus on the basic items that make up a...

Access controls allow us to restrict the access to, and visibility of, parts of the code. This allows us to hide implementation details and only expose the interfaces we want the external code to access. We can assign specific access levels to both classes and structures. We can also assign specific access levels to properties, methods, and initializers that belong to our classes and structures.

In Swift, there are five access levels:

• Open: This is the most visible access control level. It allows us to use a property, method, class, and so on anywhere we want to import the module. Basically, anything can use an item that has an access control level set to open. Anything that is marked open can be subclassed or overridden by any item within the module they are defined in, and any module that imports the module it is defined in. This level is primarily used by...

In most languages, enumerations are little more than a data type consisting of a set of named values called elements. In Swift, however, enumerations have been supercharged to give them significantly more power. Enumerations in Swift are a lot closer in functionality to classes and structures; however, they can still be used like enumerations in other languages.

Before we see how enumerations are supercharged in Swift, let's see how we can use them as standard enumerations. The following code defines the Devices enumeration:

enum Devices { 
    case iPod  
    case iPhone  
    case iPad 
} 

In the Devices enumeration, we defined three possible values: iPod, iPhone, and iPad. One of the reasons why enumerations are different in Swift, as compared to other languages, is that they can be prepopulated with values known as raw values. As shown in the following code...

In Swift, a tuple is a finite, ordered, comma-separated list of elements. While there are tuples in other languages that I have used, I never really took advantage of them. To be honest, I was only vaguely aware that they actually existed in those other languages. In Swift, tuples are more prominent than they are in other languages, which forced me to take a closer look at them. What I found is that they are extremely useful.

We can create a tuple and access the information within it as follows:

let mathGrade1 = ("Jon", 100)  
let (name, score) = mathGrade1  
print("\(name) - \(score)")  

In the previous code, we grouped a String and an Integer into...

To some, it may seem surprising that protocols are considered a type, since we cannot actually create an instance of them; however, we can use them as a type. What this statement means is that, when we define the type for a variable, constant, tuple, or collection, we can use a protocol for that type.

We are not going to cover protocols in depth in this section since we have already covered them in Chapter 1, Starting with the Protocol; however, it is important to understand that they are considered a type.

Each type that we have discussed so far is either a value or a reference type; however, a protocol is neither, because we are not able to create an instance of them.

It is really important to have a complete understanding of the differences between value and reference types in Swift, so let's compare the two.

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...

A recursive data type is a type that contains other values of the same type as a property for the type. Recursive data types are used when we want to define dynamic data structures such as lists and trees. The size of these dynamic data structures can grow or shrink, depending on our runtime requirements.

Linked lists are perfect examples of a dynamic data structure that we would implement using a recursive data type. A linked list is a group of nodes that are linked together and where, in its simplest form, each node maintains a link to the next node in the list. The following diagram shows how a very basic linked list works:

Each node in the list contains some value or data, and it also contains the link to the next node in the list. If one of the nodes within the list loses the reference to the next node, the remainder of the list...

In object-oriented programming, inheritance refers to one class (known as a sub or child class) being derived from another class (known as a super or parent class). The subclass will inherit methods, properties, and other characteristics from the superclass. With inheritance, we can also create a class hierarchy where we can have multiple layers of inheritance.

Let's look at how we could create a class hierarchy with classes in Swift. We will start off by creating a base class named Animal:

class Animal { 
    var numberOfLegs = 0  
    func sleeps() { 
       print("zzzzz") 
    } 
    func walking() { 
       print("Walking  on \(numberOfLegs) legs") 
    } 
    func speaking() { 
       print("No sound") 
    } 
} 
 

In the Animal class, we defined one property (numberOfLegs) and three methods (sleeps(...

In the Inheritance for reference types only section, we saw how we can use inheritance with classes to inherit and override functionality defined in a superclass. You may be wondering how and when the appropriate implementation is chosen. The process of choosing which implementation to call is performed at runtime and is known as dynamic dispatch.

One of the key points to understand from the previous paragraph is that the implementation is chosen at runtime. What that means is that a certain amount of runtime overhead is associated with using class inheritance, as shown in the Inheritance for reference types only section. For most applications, this overhead is not a concern; however, for performance-sensitive applications such as games, this overhead can be costly.

One of the ways that we can reduce the overhead associated with dynamic dispatch is to use the...

If you are reading this book, you are probably very familiar with Swift's built-in data types and data structures. However, to really unleash their power, we need to understand how they are implemented in the Swift standard library. The Swift standard library defines several standard data types, such as Int, Double, and String. In most languages, these types are implemented as primitive types, which means that they cannot be extended or subclassed. In Swift, however, these types are implemented in the Swift standard library as structures, which means we can extend these types just as we can with any other type that is implemented as a structure; however, we cannot subclasses them as we can do with other languages.

Swift also defines several standard data structures, such...

When an instance of a value type, such as a structure, is assigned to another variable, that second variable receives a copy of the instance. This means that if we had an array that contained 50,000 elements, then at runtime we would need to copy all 50,000 elements when we assigned the array to a second variable or if we passed it to another part of our code. This can severely impact our performance; however, with Swift built-in data structures such as the array, this impact is reduced because of COW.

With COW, Swift does not make a second copy of the data structure until a change is made to that data structure. Therefore, if we pass an array of 50,000 elements to another part of our code, and that code does not actually make any changes to the array, we will avoid the runtime overhead of copying all the elements.

Unfortunately, COW is only implemented with certain types...

In most object-oriented programming languages, our type choices are limited. In Swift, however, we have numerous choices. This allows us to use the right type for the right situation. Understanding how the different types work is essential to writing good, stable code.

In this chapter, we looked at the different types we can use in Swift and emphasized the difference between value and reference types. Apple has said that value types should be preferred over reference types. We did look at areas, such as recursive data types, that require reference types.

We also discussed how we can optimize our code by using the final keyword when using reference types. In the next chapter, we will look at how we can avoid using a class hierarchy by using extensions.