macOS Objective C Object Initialization

[Soulstorm]

First of all, let's clarify that I'm talking about ObjC prior to version 2.0. So, there is no garbage collection.

In a foundation tool (command line objc program), what is the difference between instantiating an object using alloc-init, and using a class method like "[NSSTring stringWithString]" in terms of memory management?

And the same question applies for Cocoa applications.

Is there any reference I can read up on those things?

 

[Nutter]

[NSString stringWithString:string] is equivalent to [[[NSString alloc] initWithString:string] autorelease].

I'd recommend reading the Memory Management Programming Guide for Cocoa.

This advice applies to foundation tools as well. (The Foundation framework is part of Cocoa.)

 

[kpua]

Under GC, there no longer is a difference between the convenience allocators and the regular allocators—except that they are still convenient.

With GC, -release, -autorelease, and -retain are just empty methods that take no effect.

 

[kainjow]

I'd recommend reading the Memory Management Programming Guide for Cocoa.

More specifically, Autorelease Pools in Non-AppKit Programs.