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Swift Data Structure and Algorithms
Swift Data Structure and Algorithms

Swift Data Structure and Algorithms: Implement Swift structures and algorithms natively

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Swift Data Structure and Algorithms

Chapter 2. Working with Commonly Used Data Structures

The Swift language is truly powerful, but a powerful language is nothing if it doesn't have a powerful standard library to accompany it. The Swift standard library defines a base layer of functionality that you can use for writing your applications, including fundamental data types, collection types, functions and methods, and a large number of protocols.

We're going to take a close look at the Swift standard library, specifically looking at support for collection types, with a very low level examination of arrays, dictionaries, sets, and tuples.

The topics covered in this chapter are as follows:

  • Using the Swift standard library
  • Implementing subscripting
  • Understanding immutability
  • Interoperability between Swift and Objective-C
  • Swift protocol-oriented programming

Using the Swift standard library

Users often treat a standard library as part of the language. In reality, philosophies on standard library design very widely, often with opposing views. For example, the C and C++ standard libraries are relatively small, containing only the functionality that every developer might reasonably require to develop an application. Conversely, languages such as Python, Java, and .NET have large standard libraries that include features, that tend to be separate in other languages, such as XML, JSON, localization, and e-mail processing.

In the Swift programming language, the Swift standard library is separate from the language itself, and is a collection of classes, structures, enumerations, functions, and protocols, which are written in the core language. The Swift standard library is currently very small, even compared to C and C++. It provides a base layer of functionality through a series of generic structures and enums, which also adopt various protocols...

Implementing subscripting

Subscripts can be defined for classes, structures, and enumerations. They are used to provide a shortcut to elements in collections, lists, and sequence types by allowing terser syntax. They can be used to set and get elements by specifying an index instead of using separate methods to set or retrieve values.

Subscript syntax

You can define a subscript that accepts one or more input parameters, the parameters can be of different types, and their return value can be of any type. Use the subscript keyword to define a subscript, which can be defined as read-only, or provide a getter and setter to access elements:

class MovieList { 
    private var tracks = ["The Godfather", "The Dark Knight", "Pulp Fiction"] 
     
    subscript(index: Int) -> String { 
         
        get { 
            return self.tracks[index] 
        } 
         
        set { 
            self.tracks[index] = newValue 
        } 
    } 
} 
 
var movieList = MovieList...

Understanding mutability and immutability

Swift doesn't require that you define separate mutable and immutable types. When you create an array, set, or dictionary variable using the var keyword, it will be created as a mutable object. You can modify it by adding, removing, or changing the value of items in the collection. If you create an array, set, or dictionary using the let keyword, you are creating a constant object. A constant collection type cannot be modified, either by adding or removing items, or by changing the value of items in the collection.

Mutability of collections

When working with collection types, you need to understand how Swift treats mutability between structs and classes. Some developers tend to get confused when working with constant class instances because their properties can still be modified.

When you create an instance of a structure and assign it to a constant, you cannot modify properties of that instance, even if they are declared as variables. This is...

Interoperability between Swift and Objective-C

Swift has been designed to be interoperable with Objective-C. You are able to use Swift APIs in your Objective-C projects, and Objective-C APIs in your Swift projects. Apple has greatly expanded the interoperability between the two languages since Swift was originally released; there are still certain features and functionalities that are not compatible with the new languages.

Even if you're new to iOS or macOS development and have never worked with Objective-C before, and do not intend to, you should still familiarize yourself with this section. There are so many existing Objective-C frameworks and class libraries that you're bound to have to deal with interoperability at some point in time.

We will not cover all of the specific areas of interoperability between the two languages in this book, there are other great books that have been published that focus on only core Swift language features that cover them in great detail...

Using the Swift standard library


Users often treat a standard library as part of the language. In reality, philosophies on standard library design very widely, often with opposing views. For example, the C and C++ standard libraries are relatively small, containing only the functionality that every developer might reasonably require to develop an application. Conversely, languages such as Python, Java, and .NET have large standard libraries that include features, that tend to be separate in other languages, such as XML, JSON, localization, and e-mail processing.

In the Swift programming language, the Swift standard library is separate from the language itself, and is a collection of classes, structures, enumerations, functions, and protocols, which are written in the core language. The Swift standard library is currently very small, even compared to C and C++. It provides a base layer of functionality through a series of generic structures and enums, which also adopt various protocols that...

Implementing subscripting


Subscripts can be defined for classes, structures, and enumerations. They are used to provide a shortcut to elements in collections, lists, and sequence types by allowing terser syntax. They can be used to set and get elements by specifying an index instead of using separate methods to set or retrieve values.

Subscript syntax

You can define a subscript that accepts one or more input parameters, the parameters can be of different types, and their return value can be of any type. Use the subscript keyword to define a subscript, which can be defined as read-only, or provide a getter and setter to access elements:

class MovieList { 
    private var tracks = ["The Godfather", "The Dark Knight", "Pulp Fiction"] 
     
    subscript(index: Int) -> String { 
         
        get { 
            return self.tracks[index] 
        } 
         
        set { 
            self.tracks[index] = newValue 
        } 
...
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Key benefits

  • Develop a deep understanding of the collections in the Swift Standard Library with this step-by-step guide
  • Develop native Swift data structures and algorithms for use in mobile, desktop, and server-based applications
  • Learn about performance efficiency between different data structures and algorithms

Description

Apple’s Swift language has expressive features that are familiar to those working with modern functional languages, but also provides backward support for Objective-C and Apple’s legacy frameworks. These features are attracting many new developers to start creating applications for OS X and iOS using Swift. Designing an application to scale while processing large amounts of data or provide fast and efficient searching can be complex, especially running on mobile devices with limited memory and bandwidth. Learning about best practices and knowing how to select the best data structure and algorithm in Swift is crucial to the success of your application and will help ensure your application is a success. That’s what this book will teach you. Starting at the beginning, this book will cover the basic data structures and Swift types, and introduce asymptotic analysis. You’ll learn about the standard library collections and bridging between Swift and Objective-C collections. You will see how to implement advanced data structures, sort algorithms, work with trees, advanced searching methods, use graphs, and performance and algorithm efficiency. You’ll also see how to choose the perfect algorithm for your problem.

Who is this book for?

This book is for developers who want to learn how to implement and use common data structures and algorithms natively in Swift. Whether you are a self-taught developer without a formal technical background or you have a degree in Computer Science, this book will provide with the knowledge you need to develop advanced data structures and algorithms in Swift using the latest language features.

What you will learn

  • Get to know about the basic data structures and how to use the Swift REPL
  • Use the Swift Standard Library collections bridging to Objective-C collections, and find out about protocol-oriented programming
  • Find out about Swift generators and sequences, and see how to use them to implement advanced data structures such as Stack, StackList, Queue, and LinkedList
  • Implement sorting algorithms such as Insertion Sort, Merge Sort, and Quick Sort and understand the performance trade-offs between them
  • See how to implement various binary trees, B-Tree, and Splay Trees
  • Perform advanced searching methods using Red-Black trees, AVL trees, and Trie trees, and take a look at several substring search algorithms
  • Get to know about the data structures used in graphs and how to implement graphs such as depth-first search, breadth-first search, directed graphs, spanning tree, and shortest path
  • Explore algorithm efficiency and see how to measure it

Product Details

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Publication date, Length, Edition, Language, ISBN-13
Publication date : Nov 18, 2016
Length: 286 pages
Edition : 1st
Language : English
ISBN-13 : 9781785884504
Vendor :
Apple
Category :
Languages :
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Product Details

Publication date : Nov 18, 2016
Length: 286 pages
Edition : 1st
Language : English
ISBN-13 : 9781785884504
Vendor :
Apple
Category :
Languages :
Tools :

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Table of Contents

9 Chapters
1. Walking Across the Playground Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
2. Working with Commonly Used Data Structures Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
3. Standing on the Shoulders of Giants Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
4. Sorting Algorithms Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
5. Seeing the Forest through the Tree Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
6. Advanced Searching Methods Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
7. Graph Algorithms Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
8. Performance and Algorithm Efficiency Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
9. Choosing the Perfect Algorithm Chevron down icon Chevron up icon

Customer reviews

Rating distribution
Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Half star icon Empty star icon 3.7
(3 Ratings)
5 star 66.7%
4 star 0%
3 star 0%
2 star 0%
1 star 33.3%
Enlightened urban troglodyte Jan 02, 2017
Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon 5
This book fast paced covering the basic data structures, Swift types and protocol-oriented programming in addition to having shown me how to implement advanced data structures and algorithms helped me to become a next level programmer who understand more advanced Swift materials.
Amazon Verified review Amazon
Sandeep Mahajan Dec 14, 2017
Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon 5
Awesome !!
Amazon Verified review Amazon
Michael M Sep 17, 2017
Full star icon Empty star icon Empty star icon Empty star icon Empty star icon 1
Don't buy this book. Very poorly done, some algorithms are wrong.
Amazon Verified review Amazon
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