Swift optional downcasting as Any

If we are trying access optional object property can we do like this -

var obj: Person

var str = obj.name? as Any

is this the right way to handle a nil case in swift3?

There are 2 ways to handle nil in swift:

1. Use of if-let statement

    var obj: Person
    if let name = obj.name {
        var str = name
    }

You can also check type of obj.name variable here as

    var obj: Person
    if let name = obj.name as? String {
        var str = name
    }

2. Use of guard-let statement

    var obj: Person
    guard let name = obj.name as? String else {
        return
    }

Difference between both condition is that with if-let you code will continue executing with next line of code after condition fails( if object is nil), but guard-let will stop execution and will throw return.

Note: Default operator ??

You can also implement default "operator: ??" for assigning a default value like:

var str = obj.name ?? ""