Mastering Swift

This is the best book on Swift I have bought and I have several. The explanations are very thorough and easy to understand. It is a longish book so it gets into more advanced topics, Protocols, Generics and Design Patterns. I recommend it for anyone who wants to learn Swift. In addition to this book, you will also need to find a good resource to learn SwiftUI and you will be on your way to your first iOS app.

I have bought each revision of this book and this one is by far the best. The author did a complete reorganization of the book which made it so much better than the previous ones. The Generics, Protocol-Oriented Programming and Copy-On-Write sections are a must read for anyone wanting to master the Swift programming language. An earlier review noted that there were not practice material in the book which is correct. This is not a book designed to be used as a text book (I dislike reading text books) this is a book written for developers needing to learn the features of the Swift language quickly so they can implement them in their projects. The best thing about this book is it is written to teach the Swift language itself and is not solely focused on iOS programming so 99% of the material can be applied to iOS development, MacOS Development and also Server Side Swift. I would absolutely recommend this book for anyone learning Swift or anyone that knows Swift but wants to take their skills to the next level.

I have been noodling around with Swift for an iOS app I am working on. I am learning as I go with various online resources but reached a point where I was going to too many places for answers and missing some really big picture concepts along the way. For instance: the "Protocol-Oriented Programming in Swift" WWDC video. Cool stuff. However, go to the "Protocols" section of the Swift Language Guide at swift.org. The string "oriented" isn't even on the page! I needed a resource that would teach Swift but also provide insights into the language features as well as best practices. The reviews on this book were pretty good so I purchased a Kindle copy and off I went. Pretty good stuff. Some grammatical errors, for sure, as well as Kindle formatting problems but they weren't obstacles to learning. It did provide the insights I was looking for and a whole chapter called "Protocol Oriented Design". Yes! There were some areas that I wish had more depth (e.g. the "self requirement") but I when I encountered things like that I would stop, search on the net to get more detail, then add a note to my Kindle copy. Other Swift or iOS learning books, videos, and websites tend to lead you down a very narrow path (i.e. giving you a fish) instead of providing you with the tools and insights you need to go off that path on your own (i.e. teaching you how to fish). This book does provide you with the latter. While not perfect, I highly recommend it if you feel that, while you kinda *know* Swift, you don't think you *get* Swift. This will help you get it.

Very complete coverage of Swift. Shows the strength and beauty of this new language. Easy to use, safe and new features that no doubt will be incorporated in other languages.

I bought this book in order to learn the Swift 5 language. I've been programming for years, but I had never looked at Swift before this book. The book leads you through the language so that you build your knowledge as you go, and from that perspective it was great. Where it fell short was the lack of an Editor. If there had been an Editor, they should go back to flipping burgers. Aside from the spelling and grammar errors, some of the examples were just plain wrong. Don't get me wrong, they are not so bad that you don't notice them and can't figure them out, but they shouldn't be there in a published book. Sometimes it was as simple as a decision to change the names of the variables in the example code before printing, but the surround text still had the other names, or vice versa. There were sections that seemed to drop you at the end of the chapter and then worked backwards to see how the author got to that point. He even closes one chapter with the text that should have started it. In one place he even talks about how a house cannot have more than 3 floors and the example code only allows floors to be added if the current number of floors is greater than 3. Oops! Over all, it is a good book that can help understand the language, but you need to understand programming to catch the errors and not get lost. Hopefully if it is revised for a 2nd print run, an Editor will get their hands on it first.

I am new to Swift but have moderate experience in other languages, this book was very appropriate for my skill level. Hoffman uses meaningful examples that are succinct and effective.

Im new to swift and this is a great introduction.I’m learning a lot quickly so 5 stars. I wish the book had practice challenges and also there are errors here and there in chapter 7

This has been a valuable book for me to read (I'm presently through the first seven chapters, which brings one through classes and structs and barely introduces protocols). I've been doing some Udemy tutorials, so I had some (very) basic familiarity with Swift, but this author does a fine job of "filling in details" and making one appreciate the overall logic of the language. I especially like his anecdotes about "when I first had my Vic32 I was doing this, but needed a way to do that" etc. It helps one follow the history of coding, i.e., how/why various innovations have been introduced over the years. I've also learned to appreciate just how elegant the Swift language really is. I'd love to give the book five stars, but alas, too many typos. Usually it's just formatting issues, but there was at least one instance of using the wrong variable, and another where the text clearly says to follow one practice but then the following example does not. Plus, the author has a weird way of splitting some of his paragraphs: It's like he ends a lot of paragraphs with what should be the beginning of the next paragraph -- which I guess is a minor consideration if the goal is to learn Swift. But I kept feeling like, geez, next time just let me proofread it for you!