Without a sword in Minecraft, you would be hopeless. You use swords to kill animals for food, leather and wool. You use a sword to kill monsters in the night. Here are the list of swords from weakest to strongest:

Golden: it may be made from gold, but that makes way less durable.

Wooden: its wood, but it is stronger than gold

Stone: its not a bad sword, but its not a good one

Iron: now we are talking! I love iron swords, I mostly only use iron even with diamonds.

Diamond: this is the strongest sword. Its hits do more damage, and it lasts about as long as all of the top ones combined.

Sword durability

Golden sword: 33 usage

Wood sword: 60 usage

Stone sword: 132 usage

Iron sword: 251 usage

Diamond sword: 1,562 usage

Here are some enchantments for swords:

Bane of Arthropods: does extra damage to spiders

Looting: gives you more loot

Sharpness: more chance of crits

Fire aspect: sets enemies on fire

Knock back: makes enemies go farther back when hit

Smite:??????