Numeric literal formats in Swift - Mini Project: Build & Apply

Numeric Literal Formats in Swift

📖 Scenario: You are working on a simple calculator app that needs to handle different types of numbers. To do this, you must understand how to write numbers in Swift using different numeric literal formats.

🎯 Goal: Learn how to write and use different numeric literal formats in Swift, including decimal, binary, octal, and hexadecimal numbers.

📋 What You'll Learn

Create variables using decimal, binary, octal, and hexadecimal numeric literals

Use underscores to improve readability in large numbers

Print the values of these variables to see their decimal equivalents

💡 Why This Matters

🌍 Real World

Understanding numeric literals helps when working with low-level data, colors in hex, or binary flags in real apps.

💼 Career

Many programming jobs require reading and writing numbers in different formats, especially in systems programming, embedded devices, or graphics.

1

Create decimal and binary numeric literals

Create a variable called decimalNumber and set it to the decimal number 42. Then create a variable called binaryNumber and set it to the binary number 0b101010.

Swift

# Create a variable called decimalNumber and set it to 42
# Create a variable called binaryNumber and set it to 0b101010

Need a hint?

Use var to create variables. Binary numbers start with 0b.

2

Add octal and hexadecimal numeric literals

Add a variable called octalNumber and set it to the octal number 0o52. Also add a variable called hexNumber and set it to the hexadecimal number 0x2A.

Swift

var decimalNumber = 42
var binaryNumber = 0b101010
# Add a variable called octalNumber and set it to 0o52
# Add a variable called hexNumber and set it to 0x2A

Need a hint?

Octal numbers start with 0o and hexadecimal numbers start with 0x.

3

Use underscores for readability

Create a variable called largeNumber and set it to the decimal number 1_000_000 using underscores to separate the thousands.

Swift

var decimalNumber = 42
var binaryNumber = 0b101010
var octalNumber = 0o52
var hexNumber = 0x2A
# Create a variable called largeNumber and set it to 1_000_000

Need a hint?

Use underscores _ inside numbers to make them easier to read.

4

Print all numeric variables

Print the values of decimalNumber, binaryNumber, octalNumber, hexNumber, and largeNumber each on a new line.

Swift

var decimalNumber = 42
var binaryNumber = 0b101010
var octalNumber = 0o52
var hexNumber = 0x2A
var largeNumber = 1_000_000
# Print all variables each on a new line

Need a hint?

Use print() to display each variable's value on its own line.