Iterative SwiftPlaygrounds
Entering 2023, the popularity of domestic teenagers learning programming will usher in a small climax, and programming exams in various places will return to normal. As a relatively stable track after the “double reduction” policy, youth programming has become one of the transformation directions of many K12 education and training institutions.
As a relatively mature youth programming, the current curriculum draws more on foreign excellent programming tools and content, so in addition to Python, it also includes Apple’s SwiftPlaygrounds, Microsoft STEAM maker courses and micro:bit embedded programming courses, etc. The advantage of this type of course is that students do not need to have programming knowledge, they can master the basic knowledge of programming in solving puzzles, and learn various construction elements of APP through interactive methods, which is very suitable for beginners.
Apple’s SwiftPlaygrounds was iterated late last year, and the new version offers an iPad interface and new courses focused on machine learning, which can be said to be quite improved. Teacher Wang Qin from the training institution Magic Compass believes: “Apple’s machine learning courses are relatively rich. Teenagers use apps to recognize images and use rock, paper, scissors games to train models. In the layout view, students can use the existing program Match the UI model in the code. The course is highly mature, the teacher is easy to teach, and the children are easy to master, so they won’t lose interest because of the difficulty.” However, Mr. Wang also believes that compared with MIT
Scratch’s dominant position in the domestic programming education industry , The current “mass” base of Apple courses is low, and they are not popular in most institutions. To this end, the author recently took the child to make an appointment for the introductory course of Playgrounds in the Apple store. In one hour, the clerk was trained to use the Playgrounds theme of “Programming for an Hour” as the explanation content, using the method of combining description and guidance, and then about half of the Hours are devoted to hands-on work for the children.
Within an hour, the children can master the interactive and prompt code input method of Playgrounds well, and can also experience the joy of the program running smoothly. But the problem is that after returning home, the child’s interest does not continue to be great. “Writing code” is not as simple as throwing an iPad to the child.
The content is very rich and can teach children to develop iPhone programs
SwiftPlaygrounds was born at WWDC in 2016. It has been less than 7 years since Swift was upgraded from the version with the prefix 3 to version 4.X, and will be upgraded to version 5 at this year’s WWDC. The key point is to provide a completely Chinese interface.
The Playground themes currently provided can be divided into the following categories: 1. Getting Started with Programs, including “One Hour Programming” and “Programming Machines”, both of which belong to the small trial series for users who are learning programming. The “Learning Programming” series has a total of three parts, and the content is gradual. In “Learning Programming 1”, users can learn basic programming knowledge, including commands, functions, loops, conditions, logical operators, while loops, and basic algorithms of mazes.
After reading this, you will find that in fact, only one playground can cover such a rich content. In fact, the author thinks that the introductory course of computer programming is nothing more than that.
In “Learning to Code 2″, Apple takes looking for gems as the theme, and sets up some topics for users to solve in each chapter. Users need to use the basic knowledge of programming. In addition, Apple will add some object-oriented knowledge to each topic, and put Concepts such as parameters and arrays are also integrated into the course.
At the end, Apple requires developers to play freely on a blank surface, build mazes, build tall buildings, and even control the characters of the game to perform an interactive performance. This is not done by dragging and dragging code blocks, but real code. , I believe the sense of accomplishment gained from it is completely different!
”Learning Programming 3” casts its attention on 2D graphics programming. It introduces the plane coordinate axis system, which is similar to the concept of canvas. Each chapter will teach users step by step from placing graphics on the plane and controlling their movement, until Give them physical properties, perform collision, and then in the last chapter, several example projects are also provided for users to debug. They include “Music Universe”, “Dancing Emoji”, etc., all of which are practical.
Swift Student Challenge
The annual Swift Student Challenge, a coding challenge that asks students to create a SwiftPlaygrounds project on a topic of their choice, is won by aspiring teens with a passion for coding.
One such student, Kumar, one of last year’s challenge winners, started programming at age seven. In 2020, he decided to develop an iPhone app before graduating high school—EmSafe, an emergency travel app designed to help refugees, immigrants, and displaced people access emergency services in more than 230 locations around the world.
Kumar had some experience with Java and Python before starting to code in Swift, but was self-taught. After the development was completed, he also experienced a payment process, that is, to register for the Apple Developer Program ($99 per year) before submitting the application for review and distribution through the AppStore. After persevering, Kumar was selected by Apple as the winner of the Swift Student Challenge at the 2022 Worldwide Developers Conference.
The good news is that among the more than 300 global award winners each year, more and more students from mainland China have won awards. Learning iOS development, Swift programming language, and WWDC has become a way for more teenagers to show their programming skills and creativity.
