Apple’s Monday WWDC Developer Conference had goodies for just about everybody of all ages. Among the many things Apple’s CEO Tim Cook talked about is the Swift PlayGrounds, a new game designed for the iPad meant to teach kids how to code.
Swift PlayGrounds is a revolutionary idea from Apple supposed to teach Swift (Apple’s open source programming language) in a simple, interactive, and most important of all for kids, fun. The game introduces kids to the basics of programming where they get to learn how to write code before they even know they are coding; they will be more focused on proceeding to next game level.
However, to advance to the next game level, they must maneuver the characters through various challenges and obstacles. The manner in which they will move their characters forward in the game entails writing basic codes, solving puzzles, creating functions, issuing commands, performing loops and executing other rudimentary codes and variables.
Craig Federighi, the Senior VP of Software Engineering at Apple could not contain his jealousy of the current generation of kids who get to learn to code in a fun and interactive way:
“I wish Swift Playgrounds was around when I was first learning to code. Swift Playgrounds is the only app of its kind that is both easy enough for students and beginners, yet powerful enough to write real code. It’s an innovative way to bring real coding concepts to life and empower the next generation with the skills they need to express their creativity.”
This game although teaching Swift programming language, it is far from being up to the standards suitable for an experienced programmer to advance their skills in Swift. It was designed with kids in mind and would be a great disservice for an experienced programmer to try learning to code using this game.
The game will roll out as soon as July and will come with the iOS 10. The final stable version will be launched in App Store sometime in the fall.