From Your First Line of Swift Code to a Complete Multi-Platform Application
Learn Swift. Build real applications. Develop for iPhone and Mac. Build your own backend.
Swift for Beginners is a four-book series from Waskey Press designed to take you on a practical journey through modern Swift development — from your very first lines of code to a complete application running across iPhone, Mac, and the server.
Instead of learning programming through disconnected examples, the series follows a single project throughout its development: ContactCard.
What begins as a simple command-line application gradually evolves into a native iPhone app, a native macOS application, and finally a production-ready backend connecting the entire system.
Each book builds on what came before, allowing you to learn new technologies while seeing how the pieces of a real software product fit together.
Four books. One project. A complete Swift development journey.
THE SERIES
BOOK 1 — SWIFT FOR ABSOLUTE BEGINNERS
From Zero to Your First Swift App
Start your journey with Swift from the ground up.
Swift for Absolute Beginners requires no previous programming experience. You will learn the fundamentals of Swift by building ContactCard, a command-line contact manager that grows throughout the book.
Rather than presenting programming concepts in isolation, each new concept is introduced because the project needs it. You will work with variables and types, control flow, collections, functions, optionals, closures, enums, structs, classes, protocols, error handling, generics, JSON, file persistence, and modern Swift concurrency.
By the end of the book, you will have gone far beyond writing your first Hello, World! program. You will have built a complete, runnable Swift application with persistent data, error handling, searching, editing, and asynchronous operations.
Ideal for: complete beginners and anyone who wants a strong foundation in modern Swift.
Ready to start learning Swift?
BOOK 2 — SWIFT FOR iOS WITH SWIFTUI
Build Real iPhone Apps with SwiftUI and SwiftData
You've learned Swift. Now build for iPhone.
Swift for iOS with SwiftUI takes the ContactCard project from the command line to a native iOS application.
You will learn how to build modern interfaces with SwiftUI, manage state and data flow, create navigation and forms, persist data with SwiftData, implement search and networking, add animations, accessibility and localization, write tests, create a Home Screen widget, and prepare your application for App Store distribution.
The book focuses on applying Swift fundamentals to real iOS development rather than re-teaching the language from scratch.
By the final chapter, ContactCard has become a shippable iOS application.
Ideal for: Swift developers who are ready to build real iPhone applications with SwiftUI.
Take your Swift skills to iPhone.
BOOK 3 — SWIFT FOR macOS APPS
Build Native Mac Applications with SwiftUI and AppKit
Take your development beyond the iPhone.
Swift for macOS Apps transforms ContactCard into a native Mac application while reusing the architecture and core components established in the iOS version.
You will learn how macOS applications differ from iOS applications and how to work with windows and scenes, sidebars, NavigationSplitView, menus, keyboard shortcuts, toolbars, inspectors, drag and drop, the file system, CloudKit synchronization, AppKit interoperability, accessibility, sandboxing, Spotlight, Quick Look, testing, and Mac App Store distribution.
This book is not about simply making an iPhone application run on a larger screen. It focuses on building an application that follows native Mac conventions and feels at home on macOS.
By the end, ContactCard has become a complete native Mac application ready for distribution through the Mac App Store.
Ideal for: SwiftUI developers who want to build native macOS applications.
Bring your Swift development to the Mac.
BOOK 4 — SWIFT ON THE SERVER WITH VAPOR
Build, Secure, and Deploy REST APIs with Vapor 4, Fluent, and Docker
Your applications need more than a user interface.
Swift on the Server with Vapor takes the ContactCard project to the backend, building the server that allows the iPhone and Mac applications to work together through a shared system.
You will build a Vapor 4 REST API backed by PostgreSQL and learn routing, controllers, CRUD operations, middleware, JWT authentication, permissions, database relationships, search, WebSockets, file uploads, API testing, OpenAPI documentation, Docker containerization, and deployment to a Linux server and the cloud.
The book assumes no previous experience with Vapor, PostgreSQL, Docker, or server-side development.
By the final chapter, the iOS application, Mac application, and backend come together as one complete multi-platform ContactCard system, with shared data, authentication, and real-time communication.
Ideal for: iOS and Mac developers who want to learn backend development and build production-ready APIs with Swift.
Build the backend. Connect your applications. Deploy to production.
ONE PROJECT. FOUR BOOKS. ONE COMPLETE JOURNEY.
The Swift for Beginners series follows a clear progression:
01 — LEARN SWIFT
Swift for Absolute Beginners
Start from zero and build your programming foundation.
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02 — BUILD FOR iPHONE
Swift for iOS with SwiftUI
Turn your Swift knowledge into a real native iOS application.
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03 — BUILD FOR MAC
Swift for macOS Apps
Create a native Mac application using SwiftUI and AppKit.
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04 — BUILD THE BACKEND
Swift on the Server with Vapor
Build and deploy the server that connects your applications.
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THE RESULT
A complete multi-platform application built with Swift.
Throughout the series, ContactCard remains the common thread. The project evolves from a command-line application into an iPhone application, a native Mac application, and finally a complete system powered by a production backend.
WHY CHOOSE SWIFT FOR BEGINNERS?
Learn by building
You don't just read about programming concepts. You apply them to a project that grows with you.
Follow a structured path
Each book has a clear purpose and builds naturally on the previous stage of the journey.
Go from fundamentals to production
The series progresses from Swift fundamentals to iOS, macOS, backend development, testing, distribution, and deployment.
See how real applications are built
Instead of isolated exercises, you see how data models, interfaces, persistence, networking, authentication, testing, and infrastructure work together.
Build with modern Swift technologies
The series covers Swift, SwiftUI, SwiftData, AppKit, Vapor, PostgreSQL, Docker, WebSockets, and other technologies used throughout the ContactCard project.
START YOUR SWIFT JOURNEY TODAY
Whether you're writing your first Swift program, building your first iPhone application, creating a native Mac app, or learning how to build and deploy a backend, the Swift for Beginners series gives you a practical path from one stage to the next.
You don't have to learn everything at once.
Start with Book One. Build your skills. Move to the next stage when you're ready.
Explore the Swift for Beginners Series on Amazon
BOOK 1 — Swift for Absolute Beginners
BOOK 2 — Swift for iOS with SwiftUI
BOOK 3 — Swift for macOS Apps
BOOK 4 — Swift on the Server with Vapor
