Swift Playgrounds

The real meat of Swift Playgrounds right now is all in Lesson One, which takes the gamification approach to teaching. The right side of the app is a simple game in which a blobby alien named Byte trundles around an isometric 3D map collecting gems and activating switches. The left side is effectively the game’s “controller,” but instead of buttons or swipes you type in code. And while you can use Swift Playgrounds entirely with the keyboard if you want, Apple has done a lot to make coding less laborious on a touchscreen device.

Apple includes a series of tools to make referencing basic information and sharing your coding efforts relatively easy. There’s a glossary of terms available for when you need to look things up and options to record movies or (with the help of compatible third-party apps) broadcast live, which could be especially useful for remote classrooms or sharing one student or teacher’s efforts with the rest of the class.

And finally, while the app is designed primarily with younger users in mind, this isn’t something you’re going to want to plunk down in front of a kindergartner. Apple uses the actual lingo in all of its lessons and brief tutorial slideshows, and kids will need to have decent vocabulary and reading skills to follow along.