Version 4 modernizes the tool significantly, starting with the iPad version.

But the creativity and logical thinking skills it fosters are certainly useful in schools and work, and programming is an important career option.Īpple first released Swift Playgrounds five years ago as an iPad app, adding a Mac incarnation with the most recent version 3. You may not think programming is a necessary ability - indeed, one point of Apple's products is to make digital technology useful even if you don't have a computer science degree. The new version also offers a broader set of detailed 'walk-through' demo apps that students can scrutinize and copy to see how everything works. The Swift Playgrounds introductory lesson - updated for Swift Playgrounds 4 - expands to more challenging, elaborate tutorials. The code they type is reflected immediately on a panel on the screen, letting them see immediately what their changes accomplish.

Programmers learn basics like commands, variables, loops, and if-this-then-that operations.

Swift Playgrounds introduces programming by letting coders control a character named Byte. Apple on Wednesday released a major new version of Swift Playgrounds, its iPad and Mac app designed to teach kids its Swift programming language, that now lets budding coders submit their projects to Apple's app store.

Swift playground on macbook pro