Swift Collection Types

Collection Types

• Swift provides three primary collections, known as Array, Set, and Dictionary
• Arrays store values of the same type in a ordered list
• Sets are unordered colletions of unique values
• Dictionarys are unordered collections of key-value associations
• you cannot insert a value of wrong type into a colletion

Arrays

Array Type Shorthand Syntax

• the type of an Array in Swift is written in full as Array<Element>, Element is the type of values the array allows to store
• you can also write the type of an array in shorthand form as [Element], and the shorthand form is prefered.

Creating An Empty Array

• you can create an empty array of a certain type using initializer syntax

var someInts = [Int]()

• if the type of an array is provided, you can make it empty by assigning the array with an empty array literal, which is written as []

someInts.append(3)  //[3]
someInts = []       //[]

Creating An Array With A Default Value

• Swift’s Array provides an initializer for creating an array of a certain size with all of its values set to the same default value

var threeDoubles = Array(repeating: 0.0, count: 3)

Creating An Array By Adding Two Arrays Together

• you can create a new array by adding 2 existing arrays with compatible types with the additional operator.

var twoDouble = Array(repeating: 1.1, count: 2)
var threeDouble = Array(repeating: 0.0, count: 3)
var fiveDouble = twoDouble + threeDouble

Creating An Array With An Array Literal

• you can create an array with an array literal, which is written as a list of valus, seperated by commas, surrounded by a pair of square brackets

var shoppingList: [String] = ["Eggs", "Milk"]

• you don’t have to write the type of an array, if you are initializing an array with an array literal containing values of the same type

var shoppingList = ["Eggs", "Milk"]

Accessing And Modifying An Array

• you can access and modify an array by using its methods, properties or subscript syntax
• to find out the numbers of an array, check its read-only property count

print("shoppingList have \(shoppingList.count) items")

• to check whether the count of an array is 0, use the isEmpty property

if shoppingList.isEmpty {
    print("empty")
} else {
    print("not empty")
}

• you can add a new item to the end of the array by calling the append(_😃 method

shoppingList.append("Flour")

• you can append an array of one or more values of compatible type by using addition assignent operator

shoppingList += ["Baking Power"]

• retrieve a value from an array by using subscript syntax

let oneItem = shoppingList[0]

• you can use subscript syntax to change an existing array

shoppingList[0] = "Six Eggs"

• you can use subscript syntax to change a range of values at once, even if the replacement set of values has a different length than the range you are replacing

shoppingList[0...2] = ["Bananas", "Apples"]

• insert a value into an array at a specific index, by calling the insert(_:at:) method

shoppingList.insert("Maple", at: 0)

• remove a value from an array at a specific index, by calling the remove(at:) method

shoppingList.remove(at: 0)

note: if you are trying to accessing or modifying a value for a specific index that is out of the array’s bounds, you will trigger a runtime error. before using an index, check whether it is valid by comparing it to the count property

• use the removeLast() method to remove the last item from an array, and the method returns the removed item

let removedItem = shoppingList.removeLast()

Iterating Over An Array

• you can iterate over the entire set of values in an array with the for-in loop

for item in shoppingList {
    print(item)
}

• use enumerated() method to get the integer index and the value of each item. this method returns a tuple composed of an integer and an item.

for (index, item) in shoppingList {
    print("index: \(index), item: \(item)")
}

Sets

• a set stores values of the same type with no defined ordering

Hash Value For Set Types

• to be stored in a set, a type must provide a way to compute the hash value for itself

if a.hashValue == b.hashValue {
    print("they are equal")
}

• make types that have no hash value comform to the Hashable protocol to use them as set value types or dictionary key value types

Set Type Syntax

• the type of a set is written as Set

Creating and Initializing an Empty Set

var letters = Set<Character>()

Creating a Set with an Array Literal

• you can initialize a set with an array literal

var favoriteGenres: Set<String> = ["Rock", "Classical", "Hip hop"]

• the type Set must be explicitly declared, because a set type cannot be inferred from an array literal alone. if so, it is a array, not a set.
• but you don’t have to write the type of set’s elements if the elements’ type are the same

var favoriteGenres: Set = ["Rock", "Classical", "Hip hop"]

Accessing and Modifying a Set

• you can find out the number of values in a set by using the count property

print(favoriteGenres.count)

• you can find out whether the count of a set is equal to 0 by using the isEmpty property

if favoriteGenres.isEmpty {
    print("it is empty")
} else {
    print("it is not empty")
}

• you can add a new item into a set by using the insert(_😃 method

favoriteGenres.insert("Jazz")

• you can remove an item from a set by calling the remove(_😃 method
• if the item is part of the set, then remove it and return the value of an optional type
• if not, return nil

if let removedItem = favoriteGenres.remove("Rock") {
    print(removedItem)
} else {
    print("there is no Rock")
}

• you can remove all items from a set by calling the removeAll() method

favoriteGenres.removeAll()
print(favoriteGenres.count)

• you can check whether a set contains a particular item

Dictionary

• a dictionary stores associations between keys of the same type and values of the same type in a collection in no defined ordering
• each value associates with a unique key which acts as an identifier for the value

Dictionary Syntax

• the type of a dictionary is written in full as Dictionary<KeyType: ValueType>
• the type of key must conform to the Hashable protocol, like a set’s value type
• the type of a dictionary is also written in shortcut form as [KeyType: ValueType]

Creating An Empty Dictionary

• you can use an initializer to create an empty dictionary

var nameOfIntegers = [Int: String]()

• you can use an empty dictionary literal to create an empty dictionary

var emptyDictionary: [Int: String] = [:]

note: the type information must be provided

Creating A Dictionary With A Dictionary Literal

var airports: [String: String] = ["YYZ": "Toronto Pearson", "DUB": "Dublin"]

• you don’t have to write the type of the dictionary if you initialize it with a dictionary literal whose keys and values have consistent types

var airports = ["YYZ": "Toronto Pearson", "DUB": "Dublin"]

Accessing And Modifying A Dictionary

• you can find out the number of the items of a dictionary by checking its count property

print("\(airports.count)")

• you can check whether the count property is 0 by using the isEmpty property

if airports.isEmpty {
	print("the dictionary is empty")
} else {
	print("the dictionary is not empty")
}

• you can add a new item to a dictionary with subscript syntax

airports["LHR"] = "London"

• you can also use the subscript syntax to change the value associated with the a particular key

airports["LHR"] = "Paris"

• you can use the updateValue(_:forKey:) method to add or update the value of a particular key
• the updateValue(_:forKey:) method returns the old value of an optional type of the dictionary’s value type

if let oldValue = airports.updateValue("Double Airport", forKey: "DOU") {
	print(oldValue)
}

• you can use subscript syntax to retrieve a value from a dictionary for a particular key, and it returns an optional value of the dictionary’s value type, if the dictionary doesn’t contain the key, it returns nil

if let ariportName = airports["DOU"] {
	print(airportName)
} else {
	print("not found")
}

• you can remove a key-value pair by assigning nil for that key

airports["APL"] = "Apple International"
airports["APL"] = nil

• you can remove a key-value pair by calling the removeValue(forKey:) method. the method returns the removed value of an optional type, and if it doesn’t contain the key, it returns nil

if let airportName = airports.removeValue(forKey: "DOU") {
	print(airportName)
} else {
	print("not found")
}

Iterating Over A Dictionary

• you can iterate a dictionary with a for-in loop, and each time it returns a tuple composed by a key and a value

for (airportCode, airportName) in airports {
	print("\(airportCode) : \(airportName)")
}

• you can retrieve a dictionary’s values and keys by accessing its keys and values properties

for airportCode in ariports.keys {
	print("code: \(airportCode)")
} 
for airportName in airports.values {
	print("nae: \(airportName)")
}

• you can initialize a new array with the keys and values properties

let airportCode = [String](airports.keys)
let airportName = [String](airports.values)