On Apple's upcoming Swift Playgrounds app


Wired:

Minutes after launching the app, you can learn to string together a few commands. Then you can watch them execute. You can move Byte forward with a simple "moveforward ()" command. You can pack three "turnleft ()" commands into a function and use that to turn him right. You could move him up and down and across the floating island with several nested functions. Playgrounds teaches real problem solving without skimping on the syntax. It shows you what it means to "debug" a program, to find and remove mistakes. This problem-solving is so real, it can get frustrating. But that's a good thing. As I played with the app, I got caught up in making sure that Byte behaved exactly the way I wanted him to.

While not super ground breaking, bringing it to iOS will be a big deal. Swift Playgrounds is expected to be available for free later this fall.