In traditional terms, Swift is basically an unpublishable technology. It may have reached 1.2 but it’s still kind of a beta release (or, if you ask a few of my colleagues, alpha). It’s on its way to a generally usable language but it’s not quite there there yet. Swift provides no guarantees about source compatibility over time because it continues to evolve and improve both syntax and features.

So, I’ve decided to embark on an adventure. Last night, my new ebook “Playground Secrets and Power Tips” went live. It’s part of a planned “Swift. Slowly.” series. (I’ll get around to writing “A Swift Kick in the Apps” once the language stops jumping around.)

I’ve enrolled the book in Kindle Select, which means two things. 1. It’s not available on iBooks because of the Select exclusivity clause. 2. If you have prime membership or belong to Kindle Unlimited, you can borrow a copy for free. (The prime lending library must be accessed from a Kindle-branded device.)

If you don’t belong to Prime or want to read it on an iPad, you can outright buy the book for  four bucks, which after cuts and fees comes out to just enough to “Treat Your Author to Starbucks” money. I’ve requested DRM-free distribution so you can throw the file into calibre, convert it to epub, and read it in iBooks.

With Amazon, there’s no access to Apple’s book update program, which would have made my life much easier.  But on Apple, there’s no access to the lending program, which allows payment by the borrow. It’s an experiment. If it works, I have a long list of other topics I’d like to write about.

As for the book itself? I think you’ll find it to be a lot of fun. Playgrounds provide instant gratification for every line of code you type. Apple has put a lot of work into making these environments a fantastic touch point for language development support. My book discusses playground techniques both plain and advanced that will boost your development power.

Update 4/7/15: I have pulled the Kindle version of the book. It cannot be updated and its content is superseded by the iBooks version.