What is the difference between convenience init vs init in swift, explicit examples better

Question

I am having troubles to understand the difference between both, or the purpose of the convenience init.

Answer 1

Where convenience initializers beat setting default parameter values

For me, convenience initializers are useful if there is more to do than simply set a default value for a class property.

Class implementation with designated init()

Otherwise, I would simply set the default value in the init definition, e.g.:

class Animal {

    var race: String // enum might be better but I am using string for simplicity
    var name: String
    var legCount: Int

    init(race: String = "Dog", name: String, legCount: Int = 4) {
        self.race = race
        self.name = name
        self.legCount = legCount // will be 4 by default
    }
}

Class extension with convenience init()

However, there might be more to do than simply set a default value, and that is where convenience initializers come in handy:

extension Animal {
    convenience init(race: String, name: String) {
        var legs: Int

        if race == "Dog" {
            legs = 4
        } else if race == "Spider" {
            legs = 8
        } else {
            fatalError("Race \(race) needs to be implemented!!")
        }

        // will initialize legCount automatically with correct number of legs if race is implemented
        self.init(race: race, name: name, legCount: legs)
    }
}

Usage examples

// default init with all default values used
let myFirstDog = Animal(name: "Bello")

// convenience init for Spider as race
let mySpider = Animal(race: "Spider", name: "Itzy")

// default init with all parameters set by user
let myOctopus = Animal(race: "Octopus", name: "Octocat", legCount: 16)

// convenience init with Fatal error: Race AlienSpecies needs to be implemented!!
let myFault = Animal(race: "AlienSpecies", name: "HelloEarth")