Define Classes in Swift

Written by Team Kodeco

Classes in Swift are a blueprint for creating objects (also known as instances) of a certain type. They allow you to encapsulate data (stored properties) and behavior (methods) within a single entity.

Here is an example of how to define a class in Swift:

class MyClass {
  // properties
  var name: String
  
  // initializer
  init(name: String) {
    self.name = name
  }
  
  // method
  func printName() {
    print(name)
  }
}

In this example, You have a class called MyClass that has one property called name of type String. You also have an initializer, which is used to set the initial value of the name property when an instance of the class is created. Finally, you have a method called printName() that simply prints the value of the name property.

To create an instance of the class, we use the following syntax:

let myInstance = MyClass(name: "John")

You can then access the properties and call the methods of the instance:

myInstance.name // John
myInstance.printName()  // prints "John"

The rest of this section of the cookbook will go into more detail about how to use classes (and structures) in Swift.