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Swift By Example
Swift By Example

Swift By Example:

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Swift By Example

Chapter 2. A Memory Game in Swift

After learning the fundamental parts of the language, and getting a basic introduction to creating a simple app with Xcode, it's now time to build something more complex, but by using the basics from the previous chapter. This chapter aims to show you how to structure an app, creating clean and simple code, and how to make it appealing to the user with nice colors and smooth animations.

Compared to the previous chapter, this chapter is more advanced because I think the best way to learn new concepts is to see them in a real app. One of the many ways to show content in an iOS app is by using UICollectionView, which is a component that lays the subcomponents as a flow of cell. A good introduction to UICollectionView can be found at http://nshipster.com/uicollectionview/.

The app is…

The app we are going to implement is a UIKit implementation of a memory game—a solitaire version. A memory game, also known as Concentration, is a card game where the player must match all the cards, which start reversed, turning up two of them in each turn. If the cards match, they are removed from the table. Otherwise, they are turned down again and the score increases. The goal is to clear the table with the lowest score possible.

In our implementation, we are going to use only standard UIKit components, and to see another way of creating the interface in Xcode, we'll create all of our UI directly in code without using Interface Builder.

Let's start prototyping the screens. Despite this being an educational app, we want it to be a pretty and fun app, so we need at least one option to decide the difficulty, selecting the quantity of cards laid on the table.

The following are the screens we'll implement for the app; the first is for selecting the...

Building the skeleton of the app

As we have already seen in the previous chapter, we can create our app by going to File | New | Project, and then selecting Single View Application from the list of templates.

For simplifying the handling of different resolutions, our memory game is in landscape mode only, so when the creation of the template has been completed, uncheck Portrait as the allowed device orientation, as shown in the following screenshot:

Building the skeleton of the app

The menu screen

Let's start implementing the first view, in which we can select the level of the game.

Implementing the basic menu screen

As we have planned to implement all of the UI in the code itself, we won't bother to touch the storyboard. We will proceed to open the ViewController class to implement the menu screen.

Looking at the mockup, we can see that we have three levels of difficulty: easy, medium, and hard. There are three buttons, each one used to select one of them. Also, the buttons are horizontally centered and vertically equidistant.

First of all, we define an enumeration to describe the difficulty.

Then, we implement the setup for the layout:

enum Difficulty {
    case Easy, Medium, Hard
}

Just for the sake of readability, we group the methods needed to implement a feature in a separated extension, leaving in the main class only the public functions and the variable definition. Although extensions were born for a different goal, which is to extend classes we don&apos...

The game screen

Before implementing the game, let's proceed to build the layout of the cards on the table.

The structure

After creating the MemoryViewController file, we add the class life cycle functions:

class MemoryViewController: UIViewController {
        private let difficulty: Difficulty

    init(difficulty: Difficulty) {
        self.difficulty = difficulty
        super.init(nibName: nil, bundle: nil)
    }
    
    required init(coder aDecoder: NSCoder) {
        fatalError("init(coder:) has not been implemented")
    }
    
    deinit{
        println("deinit")
    }
    
    override func viewDidLoad() {
        super.viewDidLoad()
        setup()
    }
}
// MARK: Setup
private extension MemoryViewController {
    func setup() {
        view.backgroundColor = UIColor.greenSea()
    }
}

Besides the initializer that accepts the chosen difficulty, although it's not used, we need to add the required initializer with NSCoder. Moreover, you should note that...

Implementing a deck of cards

So far, we have implemented a pretty generic app that lays out views inside a bigger view. Let's proceed to implement the foundation of the game—a deck of cards.

What we are expecting

Before implementing the classes for a deck of cards, we must define the behavior we are expecting, whereby we implement the calls in MemoryViewController, assuming that the Deck object already exists. First of all, we change the type in the definition of the property:

    private var deck: Deck!  

Then, we change the implementation of the start() function:

    private func start() {
        deck = createDeck(numCardsNeededDifficulty(difficulty))
        collectionView.reloadData()
    }
    
    private func createDeck(numCards: Int) -> Deck {
        let fullDeck = Deck.full().shuffled()
        let halfDeck = fullDeck.deckOfNumberOfCards(numCards/2)
        return (halfDeck + halfDeck).shuffled()
    }

We are saying that we want a deck to be able to return a shuffled...

The app is…


The app we are going to implement is a UIKit implementation of a memory game—a solitaire version. A memory game, also known as Concentration, is a card game where the player must match all the cards, which start reversed, turning up two of them in each turn. If the cards match, they are removed from the table. Otherwise, they are turned down again and the score increases. The goal is to clear the table with the lowest score possible.

In our implementation, we are going to use only standard UIKit components, and to see another way of creating the interface in Xcode, we'll create all of our UI directly in code without using Interface Builder.

Let's start prototyping the screens. Despite this being an educational app, we want it to be a pretty and fun app, so we need at least one option to decide the difficulty, selecting the quantity of cards laid on the table.

The following are the screens we'll implement for the app; the first is for selecting the difficulty—basically selecting...

Building the skeleton of the app


As we have already seen in the previous chapter, we can create our app by going to File | New | Project, and then selecting Single View Application from the list of templates.

For simplifying the handling of different resolutions, our memory game is in landscape mode only, so when the creation of the template has been completed, uncheck Portrait as the allowed device orientation, as shown in the following screenshot:

The menu screen


Let's start implementing the first view, in which we can select the level of the game.

Implementing the basic menu screen

As we have planned to implement all of the UI in the code itself, we won't bother to touch the storyboard. We will proceed to open the ViewController class to implement the menu screen.

Looking at the mockup, we can see that we have three levels of difficulty: easy, medium, and hard. There are three buttons, each one used to select one of them. Also, the buttons are horizontally centered and vertically equidistant.

First of all, we define an enumeration to describe the difficulty.

Then, we implement the setup for the layout:

enum Difficulty {
    case Easy, Medium, Hard
}

Just for the sake of readability, we group the methods needed to implement a feature in a separated extension, leaving in the main class only the public functions and the variable definition. Although extensions were born for a different goal, which is to extend classes we don't have the source...

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Description

This book is intended for those who want to learn to develop apps in Swift the right way. Whether you are an expert Objective-C programmer or new to this platform, you'll learn quickly, grasping the code of real-world apps to use Swift effectively. Prior experience in development for Apple devices would be helpful, but is not mandatory.

What you will learn

  • Explore the features of Swift
  • Connect to a server and parse JSON data
  • Take advantage of CocoaPods to use thirdparty libraries
  • Utilize a clean and effective architecture to decrease complexity and speed up development
  • Work with the most useful parts of the iOS SDK
  • Build video games with SpriteKit and SceneKit
  • Develop apps from start to finish
  • Implement a weather app using fake data

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Publication date : Jun 19, 2015
Length: 284 pages
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Language : English
ISBN-13 : 9781785288494
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Product Details

Publication date : Jun 19, 2015
Length: 284 pages
Edition : 1st
Language : English
ISBN-13 : 9781785288494
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Table of Contents

9 Chapters
1. Welcome to the World of Swift Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
2. A Memory Game in Swift Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
3. A TodoList App in Swift Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
4. A Pretty Weather App Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
5. Flappy Swift Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
6. Polishing Flappy Swift Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
7. Cube Runner Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
8. Completing Cube Runner Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Index Chevron down icon Chevron up icon

Customer reviews

Rating distribution
Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Empty star icon 4
(2 Ratings)
5 star 0%
4 star 100%
3 star 0%
2 star 0%
1 star 0%
Winston Sep 05, 2015
Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Empty star icon 4
Swift By Example takes the reader through the Swift programming language by building easy to complex apps using Swift. Just look on stackoverflow and github and you will see the growing use of the swift programming language. I particularly loved builing the flappy bird clone which shows you that you can get anything done in swift. Must buy!
Amazon Verified review Amazon
Ronnie Pitman Aug 23, 2015
Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Empty star icon 4
On page viii of this book the author writes: "If you are a seasoned Objective-C programmer who wants to learn Swift, or if you are an enthusiastic developer without any prior experience in developing iOS apps, this book is for you." In my opinion that first phrase is true, but I believe many programmers who know nothing of Swift or Xcode will find it tough going. In the first project for example, on page 30 the author wants you to lay out a button and the text fields and labels from looking at a skeletal mockup. If you're an Objective-C programmer you'll know how to do this. If you're not, most likely you'll have to look at the code on the next page to figure out how many text fields and how many labels he wants.Elsewhere, when you're supposed to enter new code, the book has that code in a monospace font. Again, coders new to Swift may wish that the author would sometimes be more explicit about where he intends for that code to be entered. On page 48 he doesn't tell you to import UIKit; you have to look at his github code to see that.Another way code entry could be improved is on page 43. The author has you make three long calls to a function before he has you declare the function; hence, you get no auto-complete.Now the positive. The apps you build in this book are not trivial. The author stresses code reusability and flexibility and lays out his programs accordingly. He frequently uses extensions to good effect. The author also doesn't give you simplistic apps and then promise you that you're ready for the App Store. On page 107 he writes that creating an app is not "straightforward." His realism is refreshing.In the later examples in this book, the author shows you how to import and use CocoaPods.I'm giving this book four stars because it seems obvious to me that the author is an accomplished coder and his example programs are well-structured.On the publisher side, this book could be better. The author can be excused if he's not a native English speaker, but the publisher's editors should have corrected puzzling language use, not to mention the liberal, almost random sprinkling of commas into the text.
Amazon Verified review Amazon
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