Apple Launches Swift Playgrounds App to Teach Kids to Code

The app uses an interactive interface to helps kids explore Swift, Apple’s programming language.

Apple announced Swift Playgrounds, a new iPad app that teaches kids to code in Swift.

Navigating a colorful and graphic interface, students can write code to guide onscreen characters through an immersive, graphical world. They will be asked to solve puzzles and other challenges while learning core coding concepts. Lessons include issuing commands, creating functions, performing loops and using conditional code and variables. Apple plans to release standalone challenges to help students further develop their skills. Others can also use Xcode, a developer environment, to create challenges for the app.

Additionally, the app features built-in templates that can be shared with friends via e-mail or through social media. Projects can even be exported to Xcode to create programs for iOS and macOS that can become full-fledged apps.  

"I wish Swift Playgrounds was around when I was first learning to code,” said Craig Federighi, Apple’s senior vice president of software engineering, in a prepared statement. "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.”

The developer preview of Swift Playgrounds is now available. A beta version will be released in June and a final version of Swift Playgrounds will be available in the App Store for free this fall. Further information, including videos and demos, are available on the Swift Playgrounds site.

About the Author

Sri Ravipati is Web producer for THE Journal and Campus Technology. She can be reached at [email protected].

Featured

  • teacher and children working with a LEGO Education Science kit

    LEGO Education Debuts Science Kits for Hands-on Learning

    LEGO Education has announced a new learning solution to engage students in hands-on science learning. Available in three kits by grade band, LEGO Education Science provides 120-plus standards-aligned science lessons, teacher materials, and select LEGO bricks and hardware.

  • computer monitor with glowing digital data and graphs bursting out in an abstract, energetic explosion of lines and elements against a dark background

    New OpenAI Agent Turns ChatGPT into a Research Analyst

    OpenAI has unveiled a new "Deep Research" feature that enhances ChatGPT with the capabilities of a "research analyst" that automates time-consuming research by retrieving, analyzing, and synthesizing online information.

  • silhouetted human figures stand opposite a glowing digital brain, surrounded by abstract circuits and shadowy shapes

    Tech Execs Expect AI Advancements to Increase Security Threats

    Forty-one percent of tech executives in a recent international survey said they believe advancements in AI will significantly increase security threats. NetApp's second annual Data Complexity Report points to 2025 as "AI's make or break year."

  • outline of a modern school building as glowing blue geometric shapes, surrounded by binary code streams, with golden orbs and lines representing funding, set against a dark gray gradient with faint grid patterns

    FCC Cybersecurity Pilot Participants Selected

    The Federal Communications Commission has officially selected the participants for its Schools and Libraries Cybersecurity Pilot, the three-year program exploring the use of Universal Service funds to improve school and library defenses against cyber attacks.