Add to Chrome
Add to Edge
Add to Firefox
Add to Opera
Add to Brave
Add to SafariWhen comparing Hacking with Swift vs Udacity - Intro to iOS App Development with Swift, the Slant community recommends Hacking with Swift for most people. In the question“What are the best free courses on iOS app development?” Hacking with Swift is ranked 1st while Udacity - Intro to iOS App Development with Swift is ranked 2nd. The most important reason people chose Hacking with Swift is:
This book teaches programming concepts from the ground up with Swift — no prior experience with programming is required, and everything needed to get going is self-contained in the book.
Question Ranking
Pros
Pro Beginner-friendly
This book teaches programming concepts from the ground up with Swift — no prior experience with programming is required, and everything needed to get going is self-contained in the book.
Pro Always up-to-date
Hacking with Swift is always updated for the latest versions of iOS and Swift.
Pro Comprehensive; has many practical projects to work through
Hacking with Swift is project-oriented. It takes you through Swift and iOS with 39 different projects — each introducing a new concept, API, or methodology incrementally. The projects are comprehensive and covers many important iOS concepts and APIs beyond the fundamentals (e.g. Core Data, Touch ID, application profiling and debugging), including working with graphics and making games with it. By the end of the course, you will have gained practical experience into the inner workings of Swift and iOS.
Pro Great for a quick tour through iOS development
In this course, you learn by building an iOS app incrementally with the relevant concepts and technologies taught at each step. Instead of having multiple small projects, this course focuses on a single project and uses it teaches you how an iOS app is made from start to finish, which makes this course great if you want a short tour through iOS development.
Pro Great format for learners who prefer video over text
Instead of the typical long video lectures (>30 minutes), this course splits each lesson into bite-sized chunks (not exceeding 5-10 minutes each) that builds up incrementally and quizzes the learner after every few lectures. This is great for material retention and doesn't require sitting through an entire video to be useful — it is possible to skip the lectures on topics you already know (e.g. Xcode setup, Storyboards, etc.) and jump straight to what you don't (e.g. AutoLayout).
Cons
Con Format can be tough to work through if you are not used to programming books
While Hacking with Swift is well-organized, there is no interactivity and everything is in text or screenshots. This can make it hard to follow through if you are not used to reading long programming tutorials or books.
Con Material is not very comprehensive
As this is an introductory course, it focuses only on getting the fundamentals right. It does not cover other important Swift concepts, features, and iOS APIs.
Con Not beginner-friendly, as background in programming is required
This course is not beginner-friendly. It assumes the learner has an understanding of various programming concepts (variables, control flow, functions, and OOP) and thus, it does not cover any of that.
