http://stackoverflow.com/questions/5932677/initializing-a-property-dot-notation/5932733#5932733
#import <Foundation/Foundation.h>
enum { UseItTheRightWay = true -OR- false };
@interface MONObjectA : NSObject
{
NSMutableArray * array;
}
@property (nonatomic, retain) NSArray * array;
@end
@implementation MONObjectA
@synthesize array;
- (id)init
{
self = [super init];
if (0 != self) {
NSLog(@"%s, %@",__PRETTY_FUNCTION__, self);
if (UseItTheRightWay) {
array = [NSMutableArray new];
}
else {
self.array = [NSMutableArray array];
}
}
return self;
}
- (void)dealloc
{
NSLog(@"%s, %@",__PRETTY_FUNCTION__, self);
if (UseItTheRightWay) {
[array release], array = nil;
}
else {
self.array = nil;
}
[super dealloc];
}
@end
@interface MONObjectB : MONObjectA
{
NSMutableSet * set;
}
@end
@implementation MONObjectB
- (id)init
{
self = [super init];
if (0 != self) {
NSLog(@"%s, %@",__PRETTY_FUNCTION__, self);
set = [NSMutableSet new];
}
return self;
}
- (void)dealloc
{
NSLog(@"%s, %@",__PRETTY_FUNCTION__, self);
[set release], set = nil;
[super dealloc];
}
- (void)setArray:(NSArray *)arg
{
NSLog(@"%s, %@",__PRETTY_FUNCTION__, self);
NSMutableSet * tmp = arg ? [[NSMutableSet alloc] initWithArray:arg] : nil;
[super setArray:arg];
[set release];
set = tmp;
}
@end
int main (int argc, const char * argv[]) {
NSAutoreleasePool * pool = [[NSAutoreleasePool alloc] init];
[[MONObjectB new] release];
/* the tool must be named 'Props' for this to work as expected, or you can just change 'Props' to the executable's name */
system("leaks Props");
[pool drain];
return 0;
}
The main switch to toggle behavior in this test is UseItTheRightWay
.
If UseItTheRightWay
is true, we are given the result:
2011-05-09 01:52:11.175 Props[45138:a0f] -[MONObjectA init], <MONObjectB: 0x10010c750>
2011-05-09 01:52:11.177 Props[45138:a0f] -[MONObjectB init], <MONObjectB: 0x10010c750>
2011-05-09 01:52:11.179 Props[45138:a0f] -[MONObjectB dealloc], <MONObjectB: 0x10010c750>
2011-05-09 01:52:11.179 Props[45138:a0f] -[MONObjectA dealloc], <MONObjectB: 0x10010c750>
leaks Report Version: 2.0
Process: Props [45138]
< --- snip --- >
Process 45138: 1581 nodes malloced for 296 KB
Process 45138: 0 leaks for 0 total leaked bytes.
And if UseItTheRightWay
is false, we are given the result:
2011-05-09 01:55:51.611 Props[45206:a0f] -[MONObjectA init], <MONObjectB: 0x10010c750>
2011-05-09 01:55:51.614 Props[45206:a0f] -[MONObjectB setArray:], <MONObjectB: 0x10010c750>
2011-05-09 01:55:51.615 Props[45206:a0f] -[MONObjectB init], <MONObjectB: 0x10010c750>
2011-05-09 01:55:51.617 Props[45206:a0f] -[MONObjectB dealloc], <MONObjectB: 0x10010c750>
2011-05-09 01:55:51.618 Props[45206:a0f] -[MONObjectA dealloc], <MONObjectB: 0x10010c750>
2011-05-09 01:55:51.618 Props[45206:a0f] -[MONObjectB setArray:], <MONObjectB: 0x10010c750>
leaks Report Version: 2.0
Process: Props [45206]
< --- snip --- >
Process 45206: 1585 nodes malloced for 297 KB
Process 45206: 1 leak for 48 total leaked bytes.
Leak: 0x100110970 size=48 zone: DefaultMallocZone_0x100005000 instance of 'NSCFSet', type ObjC, implemented in Foundation
0x70294ff8 0x00007fff 0x00001080 0x00000001 .O)p............
0x00000001 0x00000000 0x00000000 0x00010000 ................
0x707612a8 0x00007fff 0x00000000 0x00000000 ..vp............
Problem #1
This example's obvious failure is the leak, introduced in dealloc
.
Problem #2
The second thing that will bite you is subtler:
-[MONObjectA init]
-[MONObjectB setArray:]
-[MONObjectB init]
What's this??? -[MONObjectB setArray:]
is called before -[MONObjectB init]
? That means that MONObjectB
's implementation is used before -[MONObjectB init]
, and even before -[MONObjectA init]
has exited. That's no good =\
Nontrivial designs will just produce a bunch of undesirable side effects, weird behavior, leaks, and so on. Complex designs will fail in very obvious, and very subtle ways which can be very difficult to track down. it's best to avoid maintenance headaches over such trivial written differences, and to write classes the proper way from the start (even though you could get away doing this for quite some time, without obvious side effects).