Swift Programming Books

Someone emailed me recently asking for a list of Swift Programming Books. While I have not read all of these books, they have come up for me a few times, and I know they’re from good Swift developers. So here is the list (some might be affiliate links):

Beginner

• The Swift Programming Language – FREE by Apple. I have read the first version, and it’s honestly probably all you need to get started with Swift.

•  Swift Programming: The Big Nerd Ranch Guide – $17.27 by @matthewDmathias & @nerdyjkg. This book just came out, so I haven’t looked at it, but I’ve read other Big Nerd Ranch Books, and they’re amazing. That’s how I first learned Objective-C. So highly recommend it!

• A Swift Kickstart – $29.99 by @dimsumthinking. A deeper exploration of how to think in Swift.
• Your First Swift App – $19.99 by @ashfurrow. Haven’t looked at it at all, but love Ash’s talks.

• Swift Apprentice – $54 by the @rwenderlich team. Haven’t looked through it, but if you like Ray Wenderlich tutorials, this should be a good fit.

• Beginning iOS 9 Programming with Swift – $39 by the @AppCodaMobile team. Just heard about it after posting this article on Twitter. But App Coda publishes lots of tutorials if you’d like a sampling.

• iOS Programming: The Big Nerd Ranch Guide – $29.10 by Christian Keur & @AaronHillegass. Apparently there’s a new book and it’s in Swift! I did read part of the Objective-C one, and it was pretty good, although I ended up using other tutorials instead.

Advanced

• Functional Swift – $22.99 by @chriseidhof, @floriankugler, &  @wouterswierstra. MUST READ!!!!

• Swift Developer’s Cookbook – $25.59 by @ericasadun. Haven’t looked into this one, but looks super useful. Erica is a well-published author.

• Advanced Swift (early release, not finished yet) – $39 by @chriseidhof & @AirspeedSwift. Haven’t looked into yet, but you’re going to be very challenged!

• Swift High Performance – $26.59 by @KostiaKoval. Haven’t had time to read it, but the reviews are great!

• Pro Design Patterns in Swift – $34.99 by Adam Freeman. Someone pointed it out on Twitter. Note that the author is well-published in many programming languages, so he doesn’t sound like specifically a Swift expert (see book reviews).

Specialized

• Playground Secrets and Power Tips – $9.99 by @ericasadun. I don’t think there’s anyone else who’s as big of an expert on Playgrounds as @ericasadun outside of Apple. Seriously advanced sorcery here.

• Swift Algorithms & Data Structures – $18.95 by @waynewbishop. Great reference book for various popular algorithms and data structures in Swift! Note: I wrote the foreword 🙂

• Core Data – $35.10 by @floriankugler & @danielboedewadt. Advanced Core Data in Swift. Good review here.

• Swift Translation Guide for Objective-C Users: Develop and Design – $13.49 by @mauricerkelly. Recommended on Twitter.

• Parsing JSON in Swift – $19.00 by @jtbrown. Haven’t had a chance to look at it yet, but it does have a money back guarantee if you don’t like it.

• Developing for Apple Watch, Second Edition – $15 by @SlaunchaMan. Haven’t read it, but keep in mind that it’s currently still in beta.

I’m sure I’m missing some books, so if you think of more, let me know in the comments or on twitter!