FAQ: Structures - New Type

Frequently Asked Questions Swift FAQ
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This community-built FAQ covers the “New Type” exercise from the lesson “Structures”.

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This exercise can be found in the following Codecademy content:

Learn Swift

FAQs on the exercise New Type

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What is the significance of this new explicit data type to our code?

For instance, using the example provided in this exercise,

var bts = Band(genre: "kpop", members: 7, isActive: true)
// prints Band
var bts : Band = Band(genre: "kpop", members: 7, isActive: true)
// prints Band

So my question is, why would we write Band = Band() versus just Band()? Thanks! :blush:

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This is exactly what I want to know. Any answers?

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If we are declaring and initializing a variable in the same statement, then we have a choice of either explicitly specifying the type (type annotation) or letting the compiler infer the data type based on the value assigned (type inference).

// Both of these are valid

// Type Inference
var bts = Band(genre: "kpop", members: 7, isActive: true)

// Type Annotation
var bts: Band = Band(genre: "kpop", members: 7, isActive: true)

However, as mentioned in the documentation, type inference is usually better:

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However, suppose you wish to declare a variable but assign a value to it later, then you have to use type annotation. For Example,

// Type Annotation
var x: Int
// ... doing some things ...
// ... now want to assign value to variable ...
x = 83

You can’t do the same with Type Inference.

var y  // ERROR thrown because type is neither explicit nor can it be inferred, 
y = 83
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