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iOS Build a Simple iPhone App with Swift Creating a Data Model Finishing Up Our Model

App not working when I try to load it

When I try to load the random number changes my app won't load and I am prompted with an error to change var to let. Does any one know why? This is what I have in factbook.swift:

import Foundation

struct FactBook { let factsArray = [ "Ants stretch when they wake up in the morning.", "Ostriches can run faster than horses.", "Olympic gold medals are actually made mostly of silver.", "You are born with 300 bones; by the time you are an adult you will have 206.", "It takes about 8 minutes for light from the Sun to reach Earth.", "Some bamboo plants can grow almost a meter in just one day.", "The state of Florida is bigger than England.", "Some penguins can leap 2-3 meters out of the water.", "On average, it takes 66 days to form a new habit.", "Mammoths still walked the earth when the Great Pyramid was being built." ]

func randomFact() -> String {
    var unsignedArrayCount = UInt32(factsArray.count)
    var unsignedRandomNumber = arc4random_uniform(unsignedArrayCount)
    var randomNumber = Int(unsignedRandomNumber)

    return factsArray[randomNumber]
}

}

This is what I have in my view controller:

import UIKit

class ViewController: UIViewController { @IBOutlet weak var funFactLabel: UILabel!

let factBook = FactBook()

override func viewDidLoad() {
    super.viewDidLoad()
    // Do any additional setup after loading the view, typically from a nib.
    funFactLabel.text = factBook.randomFact()
}

override func didReceiveMemoryWarning() {
    super.didReceiveMemoryWarning()
    // Dispose of any resources that can be recreated.
}


@IBAction func showFunFact() {
    funFactLabel.text = factBook.randomFact()
}

}

1 Answer

Richard Lu
Richard Lu
20,185 Points

So from what I understand, your question is why XCode is prompting you to change your var to a let. The reason comes directly from Apples documentation

"If a stored value in your code is not going to change, always declare it as a constant with the let keyword. Use variables only for storing values that need to be able to change."

Source: http://tinyurl.com/mlw75pm

In your case factBook never changes.

import UIKit

class ViewController: UIViewController { 
   @IBOutlet weak var funFactLabel: UILabel!

   let factBook = FactBook()   // THIS NEVER CHANGES 

   override func viewDidLoad() {
      super.viewDidLoad()
      // Do any additional setup after loading the view, typically from a nib.
      funFactLabel.text = factBook.randomFact()   // IT IS ONLY UTILIZED
   }

   override func didReceiveMemoryWarning() {
      super.didReceiveMemoryWarning()
      // Dispose of any resources that can be recreated.
   }

   @IBAction func showFunFact() {
      funFactLabel.text = factBook.randomFact()
   }
}

I hope I've helped :)