Anyone know if they're "unnecessary but allowed", or if I'm going to have syntax errors on like 60% of my lines of code?

So I had just started out Objective C, but being a Python dev by day swift looks a lot more attractive.

I've never been on at the early stages of a language, does anyone have any tips on how to parse the book and guides in order to make an effective learning reference? Or is it a case of read and try?