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You're reading from  Learning Swift Second Edition - Second Edition

Product typeBook
Published inMar 2016
Reading LevelBeginner
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ISBN-139781785887512
Edition2nd Edition
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Andrew J Wagner
Andrew J Wagner
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Andrew J Wagner

Contacted on 5 Aug 16 Andrew J Wagner is a software developer who concentrates on iOS development and backend web services. He has a degree in computer engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, New York. Currently, he works for a development shop based in Denver, CO named Chronos Interactive. He has experience working with and for large-scale companies and small-scale companies as well as running his own contracting and app companies. He is passionate about using computers as a creative outlet and writing software that is beautiful in implementation, functionality, and experience. When he isn't working or spending time with friends and family, he writes for his blog at http://drewag.me. I would like to thank my friends and family for being there for me as support for both my troubles and triumphs. Without their encouragement, I would not have finished this book or achieved any of the other things in my life that make me proud. An especially big thanks to my parents, Fern and Joe, for continually providing me the the tools I need to do the things I love.
Read more about Andrew J Wagner

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Value types versus reference types


All variables and constants in Swift are stored in memory. In fact, unless you explicitly write data to the file system, everything you create is going to be in memory. In Swift, there are two different categories of types. These two categories are value types and reference types. The only way in which they differ is in the way they behave when they get assigned to new variables, passed into methods, or captured in closures. Essentially, they only differ when you try to assign a new variable or constant to the value of an existing variable or constant.

A value type is always copied when being assigned somewhere new while a reference type is not. Before we look at exactly what that means in more detail, let's go over how we determine if a type is a value type or a reference type.

Determining value type or reference type

A value type is any type that is defined as either a structure or an enumeration, while all classes are reference types. This is easy to determine...

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Learning Swift Second Edition - Second Edition
Published in: Mar 2016Publisher: ISBN-13: 9781785887512

Author (1)

author image
Andrew J Wagner

Contacted on 5 Aug 16 Andrew J Wagner is a software developer who concentrates on iOS development and backend web services. He has a degree in computer engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, New York. Currently, he works for a development shop based in Denver, CO named Chronos Interactive. He has experience working with and for large-scale companies and small-scale companies as well as running his own contracting and app companies. He is passionate about using computers as a creative outlet and writing software that is beautiful in implementation, functionality, and experience. When he isn't working or spending time with friends and family, he writes for his blog at http://drewag.me. I would like to thank my friends and family for being there for me as support for both my troubles and triumphs. Without their encouragement, I would not have finished this book or achieved any of the other things in my life that make me proud. An especially big thanks to my parents, Fern and Joe, for continually providing me the the tools I need to do the things I love.
Read more about Andrew J Wagner