Help C# .NET student understand Obj-C.

[egoalterna]

Hello guys/gals. I'm using Snow Leopard and xcode 3.2.5. And I want to use ARC, but I can't, because it says i need to be using Lion. What I want to understand is why can't I use ARC on Snow Leopard? Does Lion use a different runtime, compiler, insert something here(??) than Snow Leopard?
I'm not sure how all this works, because for instance on Windows 7, I just install .NET 4.5 and then I can use all the new features just like on Windows 8, except for the Metro apps thingy.

Thanks!

[robbieduncan]

Yes, you need the modern Obj-C runtime. This is distributed as part of the OS, it is not an installable component so you have to have a recent enough OS.

[lee1210]

It's the same as your example, but you have Windows XP, so no .net 4.5. Maybe a better example is Visual Studio 2012. If you are on Vista, too bad. No VS2012. ARC is a compilation feature, not a runtime feature. The compiler adds the proper retain/release/autorelease messages for you.

-Lee

[egoalterna]

Thanks for the explanations! I understand now.