Setting up the development environment

In order to use Swift, you will need to run OS X, the operating system that comes with all Macs. The only piece of software that you will need is called Xcode (version 7 and higher). This is the environment that Apple provides, which facilitates development for its platforms. You can download Xcode for free from the Mac App Store at www.appstore.com/mac/Xcode.

Once downloaded and installed, you can open the app and it will install the rest of Apple's developer tool components. It is as simple as that! We are now ready to run our first piece of Swift code.