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macOS What does symbole [...] mean?
- Thread starter mikezang
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The square brackets are just Objective-C syntax used to apply methods to instances of a class. They dont necessarily mean anything.
A more formal way of saying it is that the square brackets are used to denote a messaging expression of the form [receiver message]. The receiver is always either an object or a class (in the case of static methods) and the message is a particular method that you want the object to invoke and its associated parameters.
Thanks for your explanation.
I am reading "Programming in Objective-C 2.0", I found there are a lot of new type syntax, not C neither C++, or Java.
I just want to know why they don't use general syntax if you know the reasons.
I think pool.drain or pool->drain are easy to understand, maybe pool+>drain is better if they want to the newest syntax
I am reading "Programming in Objective-C 2.0", I found there are a lot of new type syntax, not C neither C++, or Java.
I just want to know why they don't use general syntax if you know the reasons.
I think pool.drain or pool->drain are easy to understand, maybe pool+>drain is better if they want to the newest syntax
Most likely so that you (and the compiler) can tell which parts of the code are Objective-C. You get used to it fairly quickly.
Whenever you see square brackets used like [pool drain] you're seeing an Objective-C message. Sometimes you'll see it used with methods that take parameters:
[NSString stringWithString: someString];
even methods that take multiple parameters:
[someObject setValue: aValue forKey: aKey]; in this example "setValue:forKey:" is considered one method (or verb) even though it's split up into multiple parts.
The way I like to think of messaging is [subject verb] or [subject verb: informationTheVerbNeedsToDoItsTask].
Each object can only respond to actions that it knows about so if you hypothetically had a dog object you could pass the message [dog sit], [dog barkForNumberOfSeconds: 15], [dog chaseBurglar: theFatBurglar biteBurglarIfCaught: YES]. But you couldn't pass messages like [dog layEgg] or [dog driveToMall].
The only other time you'll run across square brackets is when you're dealing with old-school c arrays. In this context, the brackets are denoting which item out of an ordered collection of things you're talking about so if you had an array of starWarsFilms[3] would refer to episode 4 (because arrays start with 0).
When you're working with Objective-C you'll typically be using NSArray and NSMutable Array (which are objects that use the same messaging syntax that all other objects use), so you won't see many c arrays. I hope that didn't confuse you more lol.
[NSString stringWithString: someString];
even methods that take multiple parameters:
[someObject setValue: aValue forKey: aKey]; in this example "setValue:forKey:" is considered one method (or verb) even though it's split up into multiple parts.
The way I like to think of messaging is [subject verb] or [subject verb: informationTheVerbNeedsToDoItsTask].
Each object can only respond to actions that it knows about so if you hypothetically had a dog object you could pass the message [dog sit], [dog barkForNumberOfSeconds: 15], [dog chaseBurglar: theFatBurglar biteBurglarIfCaught: YES]. But you couldn't pass messages like [dog layEgg] or [dog driveToMall].
The only other time you'll run across square brackets is when you're dealing with old-school c arrays. In this context, the brackets are denoting which item out of an ordered collection of things you're talking about so if you had an array of starWarsFilms[3] would refer to episode 4 (because arrays start with 0).
When you're working with Objective-C you'll typically be using NSArray and NSMutable Array (which are objects that use the same messaging syntax that all other objects use), so you won't see many c arrays. I hope that didn't confuse you more lol.
I thought only [pool drain] can be used in objC, but what different from code as below, I also want to know if I can use pool.drain?
[myFraction setNumerator: 1];
[myFraction setDenominator: 3];
myFraction.numerator = 1;
myFraction.denominator = 3;
[myFraction setNumerator: 1];
[myFraction setDenominator: 3];
myFraction.numerator = 1;
myFraction.denominator = 3;
One more thing, I think it is easy to understand if insert a comma in below code
[myFraction setNumerator: 1, andDenominator: 3];
Do you think so?
[myFraction setNumerator: 1, andDenominator: 3];
Do you think so?
Thanks for your advise.
I claimed because I just read them from today.
I have to use because I want to develop app for iPad since today.
pool.drain is wrong! You can use dot-syntax to call an object's accessors to it's properties, but you can't use dot-syntax to pass any other type of message. You'll learn to love the square brackets because it let's you quickly/easily recognize Objective-C messages from the rest of the code.
This confusion is one of the reasons I do not like the . syntax for accessors. It only stands to muddle things up. Dots are for local structs. [] is for passing messages.
Also starWarsFilms[3] would be past the end of the array, there are only 3 actual Star Wars films (jk, episode 3 wasn't that bad).
-Lee
Also starWarsFilms[3] would be past the end of the array, there are only 3 actual Star Wars films
(jk, episode 3 wasn't that bad).-Lee
Thanks for your explanation.
I am reading "Programming in Objective-C 2.0", I found there are a lot of new type syntax, not C neither C++, or Java.
I just want to know why they don't use general syntax if you know the reasons.
I think pool.drain or pool->drain are easy to understand, maybe pool+>drain is better if they want to the newest syntax
Java/C/C++ isn't "general syntax" it's Java/C/C++ syntax. Objective-C is older than Java, and the same age as C++, so neither of those were around to copy.
Also starWarsFilms[3] would be past the end of the array, there are only 3 actual Star Wars films
-Lee
Technically, that is not quite correct. Yes, there are only 3 Star Wars films, but the array index must be adjusted to starWarsFilms[episode - 4] to correctly index the array. The later releases fell into a universe long long ago and far far away*, hence the negative indexes (that match most reviews).
*Not to be confused with Princess Fiona's hometown.
And as I mentioned, Objective-C borrows a lot of its messaging syntax from Smalltalk, which is older than both C++ and Java, and about the same age as C.
Thanks for your explanation.
I am reading "Programming in Objective-C 2.0", I found there are a lot of new type syntax, not C neither C++, or Java.
I just want to know why they don't use general syntax if you know the reasons.
I think pool.drain or pool->drain are easy to understand, maybe pool+>drain is better if they want to the newest syntax
The creators of the Objective C language disagree. And I suppose they have more experience than you do. And now consider what syntax you would use for methods with parameters, and with multiple parameters.
This gets pretty tricky, then.
Code:
char *allThingsLucasCallsStarWars[6] = {"Episode I: The Phantom Menace","Episode II: The Clone Wars", "Episode III: Revenge of the Sith", "Episode IV: A New Hope", "Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back", "Episode VI: Return of the Jedi"};
char **starWarsFilms = &allThingsLucasCallsStarWars[3];
printf("The one with the most Jar-jar: %s\nThe first one: %s\n" starWarsFilms[-3],starWarsFilms[0]);I can mark this as the first time i've intentionally written code to access negative array indicies and have it work.
-Lee