Swift for Rubyists

Bridging the Gap

Transcript

1. Swift for Rubyists Bridging the Gap Zoran Majstorović zoran@majstorovic.net github.com/zmajstor
2. Intro 1. Why Swift? 2. How it started? 3. Syntax & Basics - First impressions 4. Static vs. Dynamic typing: types & type inference 5. Classes and Structs - Reference vs. Value types 6. Conditionals and loops 7. Functions & Closures 8. Handling nil safely: Optionals 9. Protocols & Extensions 10. Summary
3. Why Swift? • Performant: Compiled language, often significantly faster than interpreted Ruby. ◦ Statically typed, compiled, automatic reference counting (ARC). • Expressive: Concise yet powerful syntax, inspired by modern languages. • Growing Ecosystem: Strong backing from Apple, active community: ◦ cross-platform: iOS, macOS, Linux, and Windows ◦ coming to Android devices (early stage) ◦ server frameworks (Vapor, Kitura, Hummingbird, and more)
4. Christopher A. Lattner started in 2010, open-sourced v2.2 in 2015 (no. 1 in Most Loved Programming Language in the Stack Overflow Developer Survey in 2015) Current version: 6.2 How it started Yukihiro Matsumoto - Matz started in 1993, open-sourced v0.95 in 1995 (no.5 in "Top paying technologies" in 2022) Current version: 3.4
5. Master Hotwire by Radan Skorić https://masterhotwire.com
6. Syntax: First Impressions no semicolons at the end of lines! "Hello, #{name}!" "Hello, \(name)!" print("Hello") print("Hello") The same syntax, but not the same result: print in Ruby does not append new line
7. Variables declaration and type inference Naming conventions in Swift: camelCase for variables and functions, PascalCase for types: classes, structs, enums, protocols, etc. Naming conventions in Ruby: snake_case for variables and functions, PascalCase for classes and modules
8. Classes are reference types
9. Structs
10. Conditionals: if-else
11. Conditionals: case vs. switch
12. Loops: for-in
13. Methods, Blocks & Lambdas vs. Functions & Closures Explicit type signatures for parameters and return values.
14. Blocks vs. Trailing closures
15. Handling nil in Ruby
16. Handling nil in Swift: Optionals
17. Modules (mixins) vs. Protocols
18. Extending behaviour (module prepend vs. extension)
19. String extension example (simplified titleize)
21. Summary • Type safety in Swift: assigned value must match the variable’s type, while Ruby variables do not have a type, only values have a type* • Variables declaration: let (immutable) vs. var (mutable) • Optionals for nil safety • Classes (reference type) vs. Structs (value types) • Protocols (conformance) & Extensions (adding behavior) _____________________________________________________ * from the book: "Master Hotwire" by Radan Skorić
22. Summary: What You Might Miss from Ruby • Dynamic metaprogramming: Swift has limited runtime dynamism by design. • Swit extensions are more constrained than Ruby's monkey-patching. • Duck typing: Explicit protocols are the Swift way. • nil's flexibility: Swift's safety comes with more boilerplate for nil handling.
23. Thank You