Apples New App Teaches Kids To Code By Making It Fun

Apple has made coding child’s play.

Swift Playgrounds is a new Apple app that teaches kids and novices of any age how to code on an iPad by turning lessons into a fun game.

The code that is taught is called “Swift,” a programing language created by Apple for iOS. Some programmers feel Swift is simple to learn and makes it easier to build mobile apps. For instance, the ride-sharing company Lyft , rewrote its entire app from scratch after Swift was released, according to Fast Company.

Swift Playgrounds, which launched on Sept. 13, uses a split screen , according to Mashable’s Lance Ulanoff, who said he had been using the program for a week. On the left side is code. On the right side is an animated island, which is occupied by an avatar. Users control the avatar and its environment on the right side via code they write on the left side.

More than 100 schools have committed to using Swift Playgrounds in their fall curricula, Apple said in a news release. 

“We can’t wait to see what students create with it,” Craig Federighi, Apple’s senior vice president of software engineering, said in the release.

But will kids actually want to use it?

According to CNET’s Stephen Shankland, who let his 11-year-old tinker with the app , it’s got potential.

His son’s verdict? “This is cool.”