Who we are

We are Andrei and Silviu from We ❤ Swift. We started coding at ages 10 and 14 and never stopped since. We love to learn new things and part of our learning experience is to share that knowledge. Tutoring people since high school, together we have trained over 25 competent people in iOS only. We've been building apps for a living for over five years now, the last three as consultants.

We created We ❤ Swift a few hours after Swift was announced at the 2014 WWDC. Our articles were read by over 100.000 people in the first month after launch.

"For those who don’t know Andrei, this is going to be a life changer. Andrei is my Swift programming tutor and in just working together for a few short months, we’re already preparing to launch my first app into the iTunes store. He’s incredibly knowledgeable, sharp as a tack, patient, and understanding of the fundamentals required to build an app from scratch. Excited to spread the Swift love. :)"

- Alice H.

What we do

Book

Other then our regular articles on We ❤ Swift, we published an e-book that will get you to the point where you can dive into app development. It is intended for people with little or no experience with programming. We introduce basic programming concepts one by one with the help of exercises. It takes about one month to solve all of them. Most exercises have hints that should make solving them easier.

To validate these exercises we worked closely with people who have no programming experience. Our goal is to make sure that we can create a solid foundation for someone who is starting out.

We want to improve our book by covering more topics and offering detailed explanations.

App

We are also planing on launching an app that will help you work though the exercises. For each exercise from the book we are going to make a special Playground that you will use to solve it. It will validate your solutions and keep track of your progress. Making  learning to code easier and more engaging.

Take a look at a demo of the app:

We only made a prototype. We want to launch the app as fast as possible but making checkers for each exercise takes a lot of time.
We would also like to add achievements and stats to help you monitor your progress.

UPDATE: We launched the demo for the app :)

 Download Demo

Having trouble opening the app?

1) Find the zip file with the app (it should be in the Downloads folder)

2) Unzip the file by double clicking it

3) Control + Click the app icon

4) Select Open and have fun!

The app is saved as an exception to your security settings, and you can open it in the future by double-clicking it just as you can any registered app.

This is a work in progress version, so keep in mind that it has some glitches. Your feedback will be greatly appreciated.

If you wish to get the full version as soon as it’s available please consider supporting us!

Screenshots:

Classes

We’ve been teaching people programming for a very long time. And we feel the moment has come to bring this to the next level.  We are launching two online classes in a few months:

• Swift Programming from Scratch
• iOS App Development

All the courses will have short videos and text content, homework assignments and code.  We don't want to make yet another iOS course, we want to interact with our students, get to know them and help them create their dream apps.

The Swift Programming from Scratch course will revolve around the exercises from the book. 

The iOS App Development course will have a similar approach. A bit of theory and a lot of exercises that will help you practice. It will teach you all you need to know to build, polish and publish you own iOS apps.

The number of topics we are going to cover in the classes depends on the amount we raise in this campaign. We have planned to work on making and improving the course for the whole year. 

FAQ

Why is this book free?

When Swift and Playgrounds where announced we realised that a lot of people will want to learn to make apps. The book published by Apple is intended for people who already know programming and the language used in it is a bit too technical for beginners. We wanted to step in and help the community grow. We didn’t want to charge for the book because then we would have reached less people. We are counting on the support of the community for this project.

Who is this book for?

Anyone who wants to learn to code in order to make apps. You can’t start directly with iOS if you can’t read or write code. This book will teach you the basics of programming in Swift and give you challenges to help you along the way.

Anyone who wants to understand how computers work: programming is much more than making apps – understanding how computers work opens many doors.

Why exercises?

Learning to code is hard. You need to practice a lot and create a habit out of it. The exercises from the book are designed to help you through the first month of coding. Teaching you concepts one by one and reinforcing them with practice.

How long will it take me to solve all the exercises?

We hired someone to learn programming from the book. He spent about 2-3 hours a day coding and solving exercises from the book. In about a month he went through almost all the exercises from the book (there where about 80 then).

We updated the hints and the theory according to the feedback we received from people who used the book to learn programming or teach others.

We estimate that someone who spends that amount of time with the current version of the book will be able to solve all the exercises.

How technical is the book?

We tried to simplify the basic concepts of programming as much as possible and build advanced concepts on top of basic ones. Although some parts of the book are a bit technical (like the Tuples chapter) most of the content can be easily assimilated by someone who has no experience with programming.

Is the app mandatory?

While not mandatory we do encourage you to use the app in order to solve the exercises from the book. The application gives you real time feedback on what you are doing just like a teacher would. It will test you code and give you hints. The app will also help you keep track of your progress and motivate you to keep pushing until you finish the exercises from the book.

Can I learn to make apps from the book?

The simple answer is no. The book does not teach you anything about iOS or how apps work. But if you plan on making apps you will have to learn programming before that. Learning to code in the same time you learn to make apps will be more dificult and that will increase the odds of you giving up. Take some time and learn the basic of programming before you start learning iOS.

Do I need a mac to learn Swift?

The short answer is YES. There are alternatives but we don’t encourage you to use them.

How can I help?

You can send us a mail to say thanks – weheartswift2@gmail.com

You can tell other people about the book and share it on facebook or twitter.

You can contribute to our Indiegogo campaign

Where’s the money going

We would like to be able to dedicate ourselves full time to this project. Making quality courses requires time, hard work and good equipment - this is why we need your help. In case we do not reach our goal, we will still be teaching these classes, but we wont be able to invest as much time. We want to help as many people as possible to learn Swift and iOS development, and find the hacker within.

Risks & Challenges

Making good content is difficult and sometimes you come across unexpected challenges. In case we wont be able to meet our deadlines, we will be upfront about any issues we might be facing and we’ll do our best to meet your expectations.

Other ways you can help

You can help our cause though more than just donations. Show your support by sharing our book with your friends and family.