Apple Launches School Curriculum to Teach Students Swift

Apple this week launched a new app development curriculum designed for students who want to pursue careers in the app economy.

The curriculum, “App Development with Swift,” is available as a free download today from Apple’s iBooks Store. It is a full-year course designed by Apple engineers and educators to teach students elements of app design using Swift, Apple’s homemade programming language.

Through the course, students will learn to code and design functional apps, gaining job skills in software development and information technology. Students who want to learn about app development can download the curriculum for free from the iBooks Store.

Starting this fall, six community college systems serving 500,000 students across the country will be among the first to offer the innovative curriculum. Select high schools will also teach the content.

“The app economy and software development are among the fastest-growing job sectors in America and we’re thrilled to be providing educators and students with the tools to learn coding,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO. “Community colleges play a critical role in helping students achieve their dreams, and we hope these courses will open doors for people of all ages and backgrounds to pursue what they love.”

Apple’s curriculum includes a student guide with playground exercises, projects and quizzes, as well as a teachers guide with grading rubrics, solutions code and Keynote presentations.

Many big apps, including Airbnb, TripAdvisor, and Yelp, are created with Swift.