String to float conversion in Swift Beta 5

Question

The following code doesn't work anymore in Beta 5.

let device = UIDevice.currentDevice()
if (device.systemVersion.bridgeToObjectiveC().floatValue < 8.0) {
    [skipped]
}    

Also, it's not possible to downcast a string to float.

let device = UIDevice.currentDevice()
let version: Float = device.systemVersion as Float

The snippet above returns the 'String' is not convertible to 'Float' error.

Any ideas how should we test the OS version now? Thanks.

Answer 1

floatValue is a method of NSString.
Since bridgeToObjectiveC() is no longer available with Xcode 6 Beta 5, you can use the as operator to cast your Swift String to NSString:

(device.systemVersion as NSString).floatValue 

Answer 2

I am using this approach for now

("1.3" as NSString).floatValue