Apple's Swift curriculum coming to over 30 community colleges, select high schools

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in iPod + iTunes + AppleTV
Apple on Friday said that over 30 U.S. community college systems will offer its "App Development with Swift" curriculum during the 2017-2018 school year, expanding on the original six the company announced in May.




A few of the new partners include the Austin Community College District, Northeast Mississippi Community College, and Northwest Kansas Technical College. A previously-announced one, the Alabama Community College System, will be adding more campuses.

"We've seen firsthand how Apple's app ecosystem has transformed the global economy, creating entire new industries and supporting millions of jobs," said Tim Cook, Apple's CEO. "We believe passionately that same opportunity should be extended to everyone, and community colleges have a powerful reach into communities where education becomes the great equalizer."

Originally launched on the iBooks Store, the curriculum is meant to guide people without any programming experience towards the goal of building a fully-functional app. While open-source, Swift is an Apple-designed language useful mainly for the company's own platforms.

The company is also deploying the curriculum in "select" high schools this fall, but it has yet to mention any districts or individual schools by name.

People wanting to try App Development with Swift on their own can do so for free, as long as they have a Mac, iPhone, or iPad.
ronnufuk8625

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 11
    cincyteecincytee Posts: 403member
    Apparently they're trying to get West Virginia on board in secondary and perhaps even elementary schools.

    http://www.wvgazettemail.com/news/20170824/state-school-board-members-apple-reps-meet-behind-closed-doors
    ronn
  • Reply 2 of 11
    Rayz2016Rayz2016 Posts: 6,957member
    cincytee said:
    Apparently they're trying to get West Virginia on board in secondary and perhaps even elementary schools.

    http://www.wvgazettemail.com/news/20170824/state-school-board-members-apple-reps-meet-behind-closed-doors

    None of the Apple employees in the room agreed to share their names or positions, aside from a man who provided his name as Steve, but refused to spell it.

    Someone working in education asked him how to spell 'Steve'?

    The whole thing sounds bogus. 


  • Reply 3 of 11
    SpamSandwichSpamSandwich Posts: 33,407member
    I like the promise of Swift, but keep hearing from some high-profile developers (one of them being the guy who created the Overcast app) that they can't commit to fully implementing it because it's still in a state of flux.
  • Reply 4 of 11
    Rayz2016 said:
    cincytee said:
    Apparently they're trying to get West Virginia on board in secondary and perhaps even elementary schools.

    http://www.wvgazettemail.com/news/20170824/state-school-board-members-apple-reps-meet-behind-closed-doors

    None of the Apple employees in the room agreed to share their names or positions, aside from a man who provided his name as Steve, but refused to spell it.

    Someone working in education asked him how to spell 'Steve'?

    The whole thing sounds bogus. 



    You obviously aren't a teacher.  You can't assume anything about how people spell their names nowadays.  (I exaggerate; "Steve" a pretty safe bet.  But "Steven/Stephen" on the other hand...) 
    ronn
  • Reply 5 of 11
    I like the promise of Swift, but keep hearing from some high-profile developers (one of them being the guy who created the Overcast app) that they can't commit to fully implementing it because it's still in a state of flux.

    It is a little "weird" that each new iOS/XCode release introduces changes to the language that requires code updates, but I expect that it will stabilize soon (if it hasn't already).  The changes they made between version 1 and 2 were fairly significant and improved the language a lot, so it's good that Apple is willing to upset the apple cart a bit to get the foundation as strong as possible.
  • Reply 6 of 11
    cincytee said:
    Apparently they're trying to get West Virginia on board in secondary and perhaps even elementary schools.

    http://www.wvgazettemail.com/news/20170824/state-school-board-members-apple-reps-meet-behind-closed-doors
    They're gonna need a computer education / swift to pay the Premiums on the no longer shared cost of insuring missing teeth and black lung disease
  • Reply 7 of 11
    gatorguygatorguy Posts: 24,153member
    So is this the big Austin announcement? I would expect it is not based on another AI article but we'll know soon enough
  • Reply 8 of 11
    gatorguy said:
    So is this the big Austin announcement? I would expect it is not based on another AI article but we'll know soon enough

    That's my guess.  Except I don't think it's considered a "big" announcement.
  • Reply 9 of 11
    SoliSoli Posts: 10,035member
    I like the promise of Swift, but keep hearing from some high-profile developers (one of them being the guy who created the Overcast app) that they can't commit to fully implementing it because it's still in a state of flux.
    I'm under the impression that version 3.0 has plateaued, but I couldn't tell you how absolute that statement is since it's just hearsay.

    Rayz2016 said:
    cincytee said:
    Apparently they're trying to get West Virginia on board in secondary and perhaps even elementary schools.

    http://www.wvgazettemail.com/news/20170824/state-school-board-members-apple-reps-meet-behind-closed-doors

    None of the Apple employees in the room agreed to share their names or positions, aside from a man who provided his name as Steve, but refused to spell it.

    Someone working in education asked him how to spell 'Steve'?

    The whole thing sounds bogus. 
    You obviously aren't a teacher.  You can't assume anything about how people spell their names nowadays.  (I exaggerate; "Steve" a pretty safe bet.  But "Steven/Stephen" on the other hand...) 

     

    gatorguy said:
    So is this the big Austin announcement? I would expect it is not based on another AI article but we'll know soon enough
    Not exactly the big announcement about AR and VR that was rumoured, if this is it.
    edited August 2017 randominternetperson
  • Reply 10 of 11
    jdb8167jdb8167 Posts: 626member
    I like the promise of Swift, but keep hearing from some high-profile developers (one of them being the guy who created the Overcast app) that they can't commit to fully implementing it because it's still in a state of flux.
    This is true. Apple provides tools to convert syntax when it changes from version to version but it is still extra development work for little gain. But that should be largely over at this point.

    Most Swift developers seem to be on board with the idea that the early versions of the language were helped by the approach of making significant changes based on real world feedback. I suspect going forward, things will be more stable. Next up, standardizing on the ABI (application binary interface) that allows you to link different versions of libraries and object files together and use it in more than one version of the OS.
    Solirandominternetperson
  • Reply 11 of 11
    Rayz2016Rayz2016 Posts: 6,957member
    Rayz2016 said:
    cincytee said:
    Apparently they're trying to get West Virginia on board in secondary and perhaps even elementary schools.

    http://www.wvgazettemail.com/news/20170824/state-school-board-members-apple-reps-meet-behind-closed-doors

    None of the Apple employees in the room agreed to share their names or positions, aside from a man who provided his name as Steve, but refused to spell it.

    Someone working in education asked him how to spell 'Steve'?

    The whole thing sounds bogus. 



    You obviously aren't a teacher.  You can't assume anything about how people spell their names nowadays.  (I exaggerate; "Steve" a pretty safe bet.  But "Steven/Stephen" on the other hand...) 
    Exactly. 'Steve' is a pretty safe bet. 
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