‘Apple’ Preparing New Coders For Harvest With Kids Game

“Apple” has released the video game app ‘Swift Playground” to help young kids learn to code. The tech company is pushing the idea that everyone should learn how to code, even simple ones. As such, they are hoping that the app would encourage children to start early with the use of the simple coding commands that the game comes with.

The announcement for the app was made during the Worldwide Developer Conference (WWDC). The app is free for download with the iPad and was designed specifically for children in their elementary and middle school years.

As PC Mag notes, “Swift” is an open source programming language that anyone could use. Among those who made use of the language to kick start their businesses include “Lyft,” the cab hailing rival of Uber.

According to Apple, “Swift” is an "interactive and fun" code resource, which is why the company chose to base their app game on it to teach budding coders with. In order to make the activity more attractive to young users, it features colorful and cartoonish logos, avatars, and names.

Of course, adults could also use the video game app to learn to code if they are completely unfamiliar with it. The game mechanics actually makes it suitable for beginners of all kinds.

TechCrunch explains how the app game works, saying that the players will first be taken through a series of basic coding challenges. These will essentially allow the children to get used to the mechanics of the game as well as to understand how coding works.

Since the core audience of the app will be children, the game will also feature special keys that allow them to input commands and create shortcuts much easier. The original concept for “Swift Playground” was to directly teach children coding. However, turning learning exercises into games have been proven to engage young minds without less resistance, particularly if the games are fun.