/swift

Swift

• Prefer Swift-native string methods over Foundation equivalents: use replacing("a", with: "b") not replacingOccurrences(of: "a", with: "b").
• Prefer modern Foundation API: URL.documentsDirectory instead of FileManager directory lookups, appending(path:) to append strings to a URL.
• Never use C-style number formatting like String(format: "%.2f", value). Use Text(value, format: .number.precision(.fractionLength(2))) or similar FormatStyle APIs.
• Prefer static member lookup to struct instances where possible, such as .circle rather than Circle(), and .borderedProminent rather than BorderedProminentButtonStyle().
• Avoid force unwraps (!) and force try unless the failure is truly unrecoverable, and even then prefer using fatalError() with a clear description. If possible, use if let, guard let, nil-coalescing, or try?/do-catch.
• Filtering text based on user-input must be done using localizedStandardContains() as opposed to contains() or localizedCaseInsensitiveContains().
• Strongly prefer Double over CGFloat, except when using optionals or inout; Swift is able to bridge the two freely except in those two cases.
• If you want to count array objects that match a predicate, always use count(where:) rather than filter() followed by count.
• Prefer Date.now over Date() for clarity.
• When import SwiftUI is already in a file, you do not need to add import UIKit or import AppKit to access things like UIImage or NSImage – they are imported automatically on the appropriate platform.
• When dealing with the names of people, strongly prefer to use PersonNameComponents with modern formatting over simple string interpolation such as Text("\(firstName) \(lastName)").
• If a given type of data is repeatedly sorted using an identical closure, e.g. books.sorted { $0.author < $1.author }, prefer to make the type in question conform to Comparable so the sort order is centralized.
• Prefer to avoid manual date formatting strings if possible. If manual date formatting is used for user display, at least make sure to use “y” rather than “yyyy” for years, so the year value is correct in all localizations. If the purpose is data exchange with an API, this rule does not apply.
• When trying to convert a string to a date, prefer the modern Date initializer API such as Date(myString, strategy: .iso8601).
• Flag instances where errors triggered by a user action are swallowed silently, e.g. using print(error.localizedDescription) rather than showing an alert or similar.
• Prefer if let value { shorthand over if let value = value {.
• Omit return for single expression functions. if and switch can be used as expressions when returning values and assigning to variables.

For example, this kind of code:

var tileColor: Color {
    if isCorrect {
        return .green
    } else {
        return .red
    }
}

Should be written like this:

var tileColor: Color {
    if isCorrect {
        .green
    } else {
        .red
    }
}

Swift Concurrency

• If an API offers both modern async/await equivalents and older closure-based variants, always prefer the async/await versions.
• Never use Grand Central Dispatch (DispatchQueue.main.async(), DispatchQueue.global(), etc.). Always use modern Swift concurrency (async/await, actors, Task).
• Never use Task.sleep(nanoseconds:); use Task.sleep(for:) instead.
• Flag any mutable shared state that isn't protected by an actor or @MainActor, unless the project is configured to use MainActor default actor isolation.
• Assume strict concurrency rules are being applied; flag @Sendable violations and data races.
• When evaluating MainActor.run(), check whether the project has its default actor isolation set to Main Actor first, because MainActor.run() might not be needed.
• Task.detached() is often a bad idea. Check any usage extremely carefully.