Arrays vs sets vs tuples

Arrays, sets, and tuples can seem similar at first, but they have distinct uses. To help you know which to use, here are some rules.

If you need a specific, fixed collection of related values where each item has a precise position or name, you should use a tuple:

let address = (house: 555, street: "Taylor Swift Avenue", city: "Nashville")

If you need a collection of values that must be unique or you need to be able to check whether a specific item is in there extremely quickly, you should use a set:

let set = Set(["aardvark", "astronaut", "azalea"])

If you need a collection of values that can contain duplicates, or the order of your items matters, you should use an array:

let pythons = ["Eric", "Graham", "John", "Michael", "Terry", "Terry"]

Arrays are by far the most common of the three types.

SPONSORED Fernando's book will guide you in fixing bugs in three real, open-source, downloadable apps from the App Store. Learn applied programming fundamentals by refactoring real code from published apps. Hacking with Swift readers get a $10 discount!

Read the book

Sponsor Hacking with Swift and reach the world's largest Swift community!