Understanding Classes

Classes are a way to define custom data types in Swift. Classes are similar to structs in that they allow you to create your own types with their own properties and methods. However, classes are reference types, whereas structs are value types. This means that when you assign a class to a new variable or constant, you are not creating a new instance of the class, but instead creating a reference to the existing instance.

Here's a simple example of a class in Swift:

class Person {
    var name: String
    var age: Int

    init(name: String, age: Int) {
        self.name = name
        self.age = age
    }
}

In this example, the Person class defines a custom data type that represents a person. The Person class has two properties, name and age, which represent the name and age of the person. The Person class also has an initializer, which is a special method that is called when a new instance of the class is created. The initializer sets the initial values for the name and age properties of the Person instance.

Once you define a class, you can create instances of that class, and you can access and modify the properties of those instances. For example, you could create a john variable of the Person type and set its name and age properties like this:

var john = Person(name: "John", age: 30)
john.name = "Johnny"
john.age = 31

In this example, the john variable is created using the Person class, and its name and age properties are set to "John" and 30, respectively. Then, the name and age properties of the john variable are modified to "Johnny" and 31, respectively.

Classes are a powerful and flexible feature of the Swift programming language, and they can be used in a wide range of different situations and contexts. Some common uses for classes include representing real-world objects, implementing complex data structures, and providing custom functionality for your code.

I hope this helps to give you a simple and intuitive understanding of classes in Swift. If you have any more questions about classes or other features of the Swift programming language, feel free to ask. I'm here to help!