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Robert Graham
6,291 PointsAny true beginners to coding been able to get through the Swift track?
I have spent countless hours re-watching Swift videos and trying to wrap my head around it. Just wondering if any have made it past the Swift OOP track and fully understood it? I am about ready to throw in the towel. I want to put my head through a wall.
Caleb Kleveter
Treehouse Moderator 37,862 Points+1 to both of you. And Gabe Nadel , I really like your workshops; planning any courses?
Gabe Nadel
Treehouse Guest TeacherYes Caleb, I'll be launching some courses in the early/mid-Fall. As you can imagine, they take a while to create.
Also, for you and anyone else reading, we are always very curious to know exactly what topics you'd like to see us cover.
Caleb Kleveter
Treehouse Moderator 37,862 PointsI would like to see a course using bluetooth to connect a mobile device to a desktop, But more impotently, I think Xcode basics would be a vary helpful course to have ( I was wondering if I should do this one :^) ).
Jhoan Arango
14,575 Pointsare your upcoming courses for swift ?
Also, I most say that sometimes I feel there is a big jump on the swift track. Even tho the apps that Pasan create are amazing, I feel that they are for higher level coders, or at least for some that have been coding a bit longer and not just learning something new. I would like to see a course on a more simple app that uses table views as well. Not that there is anything wrong with Pasan’s course. But a more “first time coding” level type of thing.
3 Answers
Brandon Mahoney
iOS Development with Swift Techdegree Graduate 30,149 PointsI had zero experience. Started with Objective C and switched to Swift. Here are a few things that have helped me.
Take the estimated course times with a grain of salt. The only people that sail right through are people with prior programming experience. You are not doing this as a review, you are doing it to learn from scratch. Even a programmer with no Swift could sail through this course because they have already mastered another language. It's hard for us because it is our first one and we are learning to think like a programmer not just the commands.
Unless its all stuff in storyboard, pre watch all videos 1 time through. This way you are fully focused on the bigger picture of what he is doing. Then go through a second time duplicating it. After that if I am still on the fence I look over the code again pointing everything out and what it does. If I still have some degree of wtf on some things I just move on. Realize what was said early in the course, every programmer uses documentation. The language is too vast to know everything. A lot of it is stuff I think I'm just going to have to use over and over before it becomes apart of me.
The next thing is review your code. Before I started Swift Functions and Optionals for instance I reviewed all of my code from Swift Basics. Not just review but recreating the code in a completely different way. Doing things on your own is how you start to actually learn. You can only get so good at drawing by watching someone else draw and tracing other peoples artwork you know.
When you get to the apps recreate them. Think of something different you could do. Like for the Fun Facts app I made a cheesy app for my girlfriend. Doesn't have to be something you will ever need. The point is to recreate everything in a different way, a way of your own. For instance after creating the dictionary in the video I took an app idea I have been working on and made a dictionary listing every seperate part of the app and each element of each part.
Look at the leaderboards. For iOS points I am ranked 597 out of 52,678. That keeps me going because I realize that I haven't even finished Swift so its not because I am awesome. Its because a majority of people quit but I haven't. Makes you realize everyone goes through the frustration and its your choice whether you wanna be one of the ones that gave up.
Hope this helps.
Gabe Nadel
Treehouse Guest TeacherThat right there is some discipline. No doubt the work is paying off.
Jhoan Arango
14,575 PointsI have never coded in any other language but swift, I started here, and completed the track. I understand your feeling, I’ve been there. I’ve only been doing this for about 4 months, and thankfully I already made my first application and submitted on the app store. It’s a simple app, but I think I did a good job at it.
My suggestion is focus on the ONE thing that you do not understand until you learn it. Funny thing is that sometimes you find the answers to the things you don’t understand down the road. I also suggest using this forum as much as you can, asking as many questions as possible, but don’t forget to be clear when asking them. I also use this forum to “Explain” whatever I know about swift to other students who are stuck, this way I can practice and learn while teaching. DO NOT give up if it’s something you want to learn. I just finished the track today, and I have to be honest, there are things that I still don’t understand, and have skipped over them, but for sure will come back to them later on.
Good luck, and perhaps you can start by asking a question on where you are stuck and what is something you don’t understand at all, maybe I can explain better, I’m good at going into details for those of us who like to learn visually.
Robert Graham
6,291 PointsHey All, thanks for the words of encouragement! Really Great to read! Its really helpful to see that I am not alone and it is possible. William, good stuff!! I am going about it very similar. Again, thanks Gabe and the others for taking the time to offer advice and encouragement. Means a ton!!!!
There was one video in there where we were going over classes with Initializers and then they threw in an Enum and I think my head just exploded.,,lol I am better today and obviously have to go back to the Enum videos again to review.
Thanks again!
Gabe Nadel
Treehouse Guest TeacherGabe Nadel
Treehouse Guest TeacherPlenty of folks have made it through the track. Sorry you are getting stuck. Are there some specific terms, data types, concepts, lines of code that are tripping you up? Maybe if we can clear those up for you, you can gain some momentum.
BTW, getting stuck and feeling like you are about to quit is a a very common phase in learning to code, it DEFINITELY doesn't mean you should quit, it just means you are feeling yourself through unchartered waters - sometimes that goes smoothly, sometimes not so much.