Playgrounds (Xcode feature)

Short description: Feature of the Xcode development environment

For the Swift Playgrounds application for iPad and Mac, see Swift Playgrounds.

PlaygroundsDeveloper(s)| Developer Tools Department
Apple Inc

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Initial release| macOS
June 2, 2014; 11 years ago (2014-06-02)
Platform| macOS
Type| Developer Tool

The Playgrounds feature of the Xcode IDE provides an environment for rapid experimentation and development in the Swift programming language. The original version of the feature was announced and released by Apple Inc on June 2, 2014, during WWDC 2014.[1][2]

## Overview

Playgrounds provide a testing ground that renders developer code in real time. They have the capability of evaluating and displaying the results of single expressions as they are coded (in line or on a side bar), providing rapid feedback to the programmer. This type of development environment, known as a read-eval-print loop (or REPL) is useful for learning, experimenting and fast prototyping.[3][4][5] Playgrounds was used by Apple to publish Swift tutorials and guided tours where the REPL advantages are noticeable.[6][7]

The Playgrounds feature was developed by the Developer Tools department at Apple. According to Chris Lattner, the inventor of Swift Programming Language and Senior Director and Architect at the Developer Tools Department, Playgrounds was "heavily influenced by Bret Victor's ideas, by Light Table and by many other interactive systems".[8] Playgrounds was announced by Apple Inc. on June 2, 2014, during WWDC 2014 as part of Xcode 6 and released in September.

In September 2016, the Swift Playgrounds application for iPad (also available on macOS starting in February 2020) was released, incorporating these ideas into an educational tool. Xcode's Playgrounds feature continued development, with a new step-by-step execution feature introduced in Xcode 10 at WWDC 2018.[9]

## References

1. ↑ "Keynote - WWDC 2014 - Videos" (in en). http://developer.apple.com/videos/play/wwdc2014/101/.
2. ↑ "Apple's new Swift language explained: A clever move to boost iOS, while holding Android apps back - ExtremeTech". https://www.extremetech.com/computing/183563-apples-new-swift-language-explained-a-clever-move-to-boost-ios-while-holding-android-apps-back.
3. ↑ "Swift: Apple's next-generation programming language 4 years in the making" (in en). June 4, 2014. https://www.imore.com/swift-apples-next-generation-programming-language-4-years-making.
4. ↑ Mayo, Benjamin (June 2, 2014). "Apple announces new Xcode, 'Swift' programming language" (in en-US). https://9to5mac.com/2014/06/02/apple-announces-new-xcode-swift-programming-language/.
5. ↑ "Swift Resources - Apple Developer" (in en). https://developer.apple.com/swift/resources/.
6. ↑ "A Swift Tour — The Swift Programming Language (Swift 5)". https://docs.swift.org/swift-book/GuidedTour/GuidedTour.html.
7. ↑ Swift.org. "A Swift Tour". https://docs.swift.org/swift-book/GuidedTour/GuidedTour.playground.zip.
8. ↑ Victor, Bret (September 2012). "Learnable Programming". http://worrydream.com/#!/LearnableProgramming.
9. ↑ "Getting the Most out of Playgrounds in Xcode - WWDC 2018 - Videos". https://developer.apple.com/videos/play/wwdc2018/402/. Retrieved November 25, 2020.

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