swift programming syntax issue

Question

What does it mean in swift when there is a period bewteen two variables and/or functions. I know it's very simple but I can't find an answer and it's driving me crazy. An example program is below:

 “let string1 = "hello"
 let string2 = " there"
 var welcome = string1 + string2
 // welcome now equals "hello there”


 let exclamationMark: Character = "!"
 welcome.append(exclamationMark)
 // welcome now equals "hello there!”

Excerpt From: Apple Inc. “The Swift Programming Language.” iBooks. https://itun.es/ca/jEUH0.l

What's the use of the period between welcome and append? What does it do?

In the "A Swift Tour" chapter of the same book: "Use dot syntax to access the properties and methods of the instance." — Martin R
– Martin R, Commented Jul 6, 2015 at 14:07

nachodev · Accepted Answer · 2015-07-06 13:59:36Z

1

That's how you call function "append" for instance "welcome", passing "exclamationMark" as the parameter. In Objective-C this would be:

[welcome append: exclamationMark];

In general, the period is how you access any member (method or property) of an instance.

answered Jul 6, 2015 at 13:59

nachodev

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Don Alejandro · Accepted Answer · 2015-08-29 03:33:03Z

0

It's called "dot syntax" and that's what is used to access members, functions or properties of that instance.

answered Aug 29, 2015 at 3:33

Don Alejandro

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