Apple unveils coding contest for students to kick off virtual Worldwide Developer Conference week
- Apple’s Swift Student Challenge will give teenage developers an opportunity to show their skill at coding, and is open to participants worldwide
- Developer conference, usually a highlight of the year for Apple fans, has been forced by coronavirus to move online and become a virtual event
Computer programming should be so simple even kids can do it. That is the philosophy behind Apple’s Swift Playground app, which the US tech giant launched in 2016 to turn its popular programming language into a coding tutorial in game form.
The objective of the game is simple: control virtual characters’ moves around a digital playground with lines of code. Each line of code written, like a command, results in virtual characters and settings completing that action in real time. It’s what Apple calls “gamified” coding.
Programming has not always been this simple, of course. As Apple’s senior director of developer marketing, Esther Hare, recalls: “When I was learning how to code, I’d have to go to a lab, and if I made a mistake, the code would crash and I’d have to scroll through dozens of lines trying to find the error.
“In Swift Playground, the coder can see action running in real time as they’re writing, and if there’s a mistake, they can see it on the spot. And you can take the iPad with you anywhere.”
That versatility and portability is an apt metaphor for this year’s Apple Worldwide Developer Conference. Usually a week-long gathering of thousands in the San Jose Convention Centre in California, it’s been forced to transform into a virtual event this year, beginning on June 22, because of the coronavirus pandemic.