When you think about a company that delivers the highest quality products, you think about Apple. Apple has some of the most widely loved and used products, such as the iPhone, iPad, and Mac.
This is the reason why an iOS app developer is one of the most sought after job positions. Apple devices are compelling and robust. To maintain the same standard in the applications that are run on the systems, all the applications that can be run on Apple are written in Swift.
Swift is an extremely powerful, versatile, lightweight, and interactive language that enables developers to create apps with modern features.
For becoming an efficient Swift developer, it is not enough to just know the language.
There are specific other skills that you must possess to ensure that you can create stunning apps. These skills help you make optimum utilization of your Swift knowledge. Here are the top 8 must-have skills to become one of the best Swift developers.
Networking
Almost all the apps currently on the Apple store need an internet connection to function correctly. The app may need to download data or interact with other third-party apps. A Swift programmer must know how to make the app network effectively.
To do so, you need to know JSON or JavaScript Object Notation. You can use JSON to post data to the web server as well as to receive data from the webserver.
You must also know the workings of the URLSession. URLSession is an API that Apple uses to download and upload content from the internet.
Spatial Reasoning
All iOS apps are known for their interoperability. You should be able to use the app on different Apple devices. These devices have different screen sizes. Therefore, it is pertinent that you have excellent spatial reasoning skills.
It helps you visualize various elements in the app and how they interact with each other. Swift developer also uses spatial reasoning to understand how the user interacts with the app and how the controls change from one device to another.
Even if you work in a company that hires a designer to design the user interface, you will still have to work with the designer. Therefore, spatial reasoning is an essential skill for a Swift developer.
Design Guidelines
One of the reasons that IOS devices are used so widely is that iOS apps are very intuitive and easy to use. This is not by accident.
There are laid down design guidelines based on years of experience and research for Swift developers. Not only must you know these guidelines, but you must also adhere to them if you want your app to be successful.
These guidelines also specify how the apps must display data to the user, how to store the data, and how they should handle data depending on the user’s actions. This is also known as Model-View-Controller or MVC.
You should also understand the Delegate pattern, which is how the various objects in the app interact with each other and how they transfer data to each other.
Grand Central Dispatch
Every app that runs on iOS can handle multiple tasks concurrently without it negatively impacting the performance of the app or slowing it down. Grand Central Dispatch or GCD is the reason for this. GCD is essentially a low-level API.
The GCD enables apps to run tasks concurrently to improve its performance and responsiveness. The GCD delegates the computationally heavy tasks to run in the background.
Since every app must typically perform various actions such as gathering data from the internet, display the data required to the user, understand the user actions, and much more, a keen understanding of GCD is one of the must-have skills for a Swift developer.
Core Data
Apple developed a framework to manage object graphs, and this framework is Core Data. When you start your journey as a Swift developer, you may come across Core Data, and it may seem like getting a grasp on Core Data is a daunting task.
However, once you get used to working with Core Data, you won’t be able to imagine developing an app without it. An object graph is just a collection of objects that are connected.
All your apps will have complex object graphs. You need to efficiently manage these object graphs to ensure that your app provides a smooth and seamless user experience. This is made possible through the use of Core Data.
XCode
XCode is Apple’s Integrated Development Environment or IDE. XCode is a powerful IDE, and you need it to run Swift. XCode supports many programming languages in addition to Swift and can build files that can be processed by both Power PCs and Intel-based systems.
It is one of the best IDEs for code completion and has a low learning curve. You can learn XCode within a day. It is also recommended that you spend some additional time in learning its advanced debugging features as they are truly exceptional.
Logical Thinking
Logical thinking is one of those skills that are the basis for all forms of development, ranging from WordPress development to Swift development. Logical thinking helps you find solutions to almost every problem you will encounter as a Swift developer.
It is the key to writing exceptional code that is computationally stable and lightweight and yet, delivers a powerful performance.
Object-Oriented Programming Concepts
Swift is an object-oriented programming language. To become a successful Swift developer, you should start by learning the concepts of object-oriented programming such as classes, class initialization, and inheritances.
You must also understand how these concepts apply to Swift. The knowledge of syntaxes can only take you so far. The real strength of Swift lies in the fact that it is an object-oriented language.
Conclusion
There is a severe skill gap in the market for app developers. Most of the developers tend to focus on Android development. However, the role of a Swift developer is more lucrative.
There are more opportunities in the field, and companies are clamoring to hire talented Swift developers. While a list of skills may seem daunting at first, they are straightforward to understand and master.
