Methods

The fact that structures and enumerations can define methods in Swift is a major difference from C and Objective-C.

Instance Methods

Instance methods are functions that belong to instances of a particular class, structure, or enumeration.

class Counter {
    var count = 0
    func increment() {
        count += 1
    }
    func increment(by amount: Int) {
        count += amount
    }
    func reset() {
        count = 0
    }
}

let counter = Counter()
// the initial counter value is 0
counter.increment()
// the counter's value is now 1
counter.increment(by: 5)
// the counter's value is now 6
counter.reset()
// the counter's value is now 0

The self Property

Every instance of a type has an implicit property called self, which is exactly equivalent to the instance itself. You use the self property to refer to the current instance within its own instance methods.

Swift Inferred

Swift assumes that you are referring to a property or method of the current instance

class Counter {
    var count = 0
    func increment() {
        count += 1
    }
    func increment(by amount: Int) {
        count += amount
    }
    func reset() {
        count = 0
    }
}

When to use self

You use the self property to distinguish between the parameter name and the property name.

func increment() {
    self.count += 1
}

struct Point {
    var x = 0.0, y = 0.0
    func isToTheRightOf(x: Double) -> Bool {
        return self.x > x
    }
}
let somePoint = Point(x: 4.0, y: 5.0)
if somePoint.isToTheRightOf(x: 1.0) {
    print("This point is to the right of the line where x == 1.0")
}
// Prints "This point is to the right of the line where x == 1.0"

Modifying Value Types from Within Instance Methods

Structures and enumerations are value types. By default, the properties of a value type cannot be modified from within its instance methods.
mutatingkeyword means the method can change its properties.
Note that you cannot call a mutating method on a constant of structure type, because its properties cannot be changed, even if they are variable properties,

struct Point {
    var x = 0.0, y = 0.0
    mutating func moveBy(x deltaX: Double, y deltaY: Double) {
        x += deltaX
        y += deltaY
    }
}
var somePoint = Point(x: 1.0, y: 1.0)
somePoint.moveBy(x: 2.0, y: 3.0)
print("The point is now at (\(somePoint.x), \(somePoint.y))")
// Prints "The point is now at (3.0, 4.0)"

//cannot call a mutating method on a constant of structure type, 
let fixedPoint = Point(x: 3.0, y: 3.0)
fixedPoint.moveBy(x: 2.0, y: 3.0)
// this will report an error

Assigning to self Within a Mutating Method

The method can also assign a completely new instance to its implicit self property, and this new instance will replace the existing one when the method ends.

self for structure

struct Point {
    var x = 0.0, y = 0.0
    mutating func moveBy(x deltaX: Double, y deltaY: Double) {
        self = Point(x: x + deltaX, y: y + deltaY)
    }
}

self for Enum

enum TriStateSwitch {
    case off, low, high
    mutating func next() {
        switch self {
        case .off:
            self = .low
        case .low:
            self = .high
        case .high:
            self = .off
        }
    }
}
var ovenLight = TriStateSwitch.low
ovenLight.next()
// ovenLight is now equal to .high
ovenLight.next()
// ovenLight is now equal to .off

Type Methods

class SomeClass {
    class func someTypeMethod() {
        // type method implementation goes here
    }
}
SomeClass.someTypeMethod()

called on the type itself
indicate type methods by writing the static keyword before the method’s func keyword. Classes may also use the class keyword to allow subclasses to override the superclass’s implementation of that method.
In Objective-C, you can define type-level methods only for Objective-C classes. In Swift, you can define type-level methods for all classes, structures, and enumerations. Each type method is explicitly scoped to the type it supports.
Within the body of a type method, the implicit self property refers to the type itself, rather than an instance of that type. This means that you can use self to disambiguate between type properties and type method parameters, just as you do for instance properties and instance method parameters.

struct LevelTracker {
    static var highestUnlockedLevel = 1
    var currentLevel = 1
    
    static func unlock(_ level: Int) {
        if level > highestUnlockedLevel { highestUnlockedLevel = level }
    }
    
    //  convenience type function
    static func isUnlocked(_ level: Int) -> Bool {
        return level <= highestUnlockedLevel
    }
    
    @discardableResult
    mutating func advance(to level: Int) -> Bool {
        if LevelTracker.isUnlocked(level) {
            currentLevel = level
            return true
        } else {
            return false
        }
    }
}

class Player {
    var tracker = LevelTracker()
    let playerName: String
    func complete(level: Int) {
        LevelTracker.unlock(level + 1)
        tracker.advance(to: level + 1)
    }
    init(name: String) {
        playerName = name
    }
}

var player = Player(name: "Argyrios")
player.complete(level: 1)
print("highest unlocked level is now \(LevelTracker.highestUnlockedLevel)")
// Prints "highest unlocked level is now 2"

player = Player(name: "Beto")
if player.tracker.advance(to: 6) {
    print("player is now on level 6")
} else {
    print("level 6 has not yet been unlocked")
}
// Prints "level 6 has not yet been unlocked"