Playgrounds

The set of tools you use to write software is often referred to as the toolchain. The part of the toolchain into which you write your code is known as the Integrated Development Environment (IDE). The most commonly used IDE for Swift is

called Xcode, and that’s what you’ll be using.

Xcode includes a handy feature called a Playground, which allows you to quickly write and test code without needing to build a complete app. You’ll use playgrounds throughout the book to practice coding, so it’s important to understand how they work. That’s what you’ll learn during the rest of this chapter.