Apple launches new Swift programming language for MAC OS X and iOS

Apple developers now have a new tool in their toolbox.

Switft, a new programming language that can power all of its devices. Swift is the successor to Objective-C, the venerable language that Apple has used to build apps for the Mac and iOS. Swift includes full support for Cocoa and Cocoa Touch, so developers can build apps for the iPad and iPhone.

Swift uses the same LLVM compiler that Apple uses for Objective-C, so developers can run Swift, Objective-C,  and C code all in the same program, and brings a number of improvements.

Swift seems to get rid of Objective C's reliance on defined pointers; instead, the compiler infers the variable type, just as many scripting languages do. At the same time, it provides modern features similar to those found in C++ and Java, like well-defined namespaces, generics, and operator overloading. From the few fragments of code shown during the demo, Swift appears to rely heavily on the dot-notation that Apple introduced in an earlier iteration of Objective C.

Apple showed off a couple of cases where implementing the same algorithm in Swift provided a speedup of about 1.3X compared to the same code implemented in Objective C. It also showed off a Swift "playground," where code is compiled as it's typed and the output is displayed in a separate pane of the editing window. The goal here is to allow developers to test code fragments without having to recompile an entire complex project.

The Swift Programming Language, This book is available for download with iBooks on your Mac or iOS device, and with iTunes on your computer. Books can be read with iBooks on your Mac or iOS device. Download link

What happens when you run Rails migration?

Rails migration allows the creation of the table and provides the functionality that can be performed on a table with the following commands:

create_table(name, options)
drop_table(name)
rename_table(old_name, new_name)
add_column(table_name, column_name, type, options)
rename_column(table_name, column_name, new_column_name)
change_column(table_name, column_name, type, options)
remove_column(table_name, column_name)
add_index(table_name, column_name, index_type)
remove_index(table_name, column_name)

-Rails Migration also allows the use of pre-defined data type in the application as it supports all the data types. The data types consist of string, integer, float, etc.

-Rails Migration allows the users to use the valid column options like limit (:limit=> "50"), default (:default => "hello"), and null (:null => false implies NOT NULL)

What is the difference between Symbol and String in Ruby?

The symbol in Ruby on rails act the same way as the string but the difference is in their behaviors that are opposite to each other.

The difference remains in the object_id, memory and process time for both of them when used together at one time.

Strings are considered as mutable objects. Whereas, symbols, belongs to the category of immutable.

Strings objects are mutable so that it takes only the assignments to change the object information. Whereas, information of, immutable objects gets overwritten.

String objects are written like
irb(main):001:0> "string object apple".object_id #=>70278982314860
or
irb(main):002:0> "string object apple".to_sym.object_id #=> 456148

Symbols are used to show the values for the actions like equality or non-equality to test the symbols faster then the string values.

Difference between Argument and Parameter in ruby on rails?

A parameter represents a value that the method expects you to pass when you call it.
An argument represents the value you pass to a method parameter when you call the method. The calling code supplies the arguments when it calls the method.

In simple words, parameters appear in method definitions; arguments appear in method calls.

For example, in below method, variables param1 and param2 are the parameters

def foo_method(param1, param2):
    .......
end
while calling the method, arg1 and arg2 are the arguments
 
foo_method(arg1, arg2)

What are filters? and how many types of filters are there in ruby?

Filters are methods that are run before, after or "around" a controller action.

Filters are inherited, so if you set a filter on ApplicationController, it will be run on every controller in your application.

Filter can take one of three forms: method reference (symbol), external class, or inline method (proc).

          after_filter
    append_after_filter
    append_around_filter
    append_before_filter
    around_filter
    before_filter
    filter_chain
    prepend_after_filter
    prepend_around_filter
    prepend_before_filter
    skip_after_filter
    skip_before_filter
    skip_filter