理解NSString的RetainCount

In Xcode, create a command line project with a name NSStringRetainCountTest. And the implementation file is as follows:

#import <Foundation/Foundation.h> int main (int argc, const char * argv[]) {     NSAutoreleasePool * pool = [[NSAutoreleasePool alloc] init];      /* Test Sample 1 */        NSString *a = [[NSString alloc]initWithString:@"Hello, string A."];     NSLog(@"Retain count of string a is:%d", [a retainCount]);     [pool drain];     return 0; }

And the OUTPUT result is:

2009-11-11 16:44:34.890 NSStringRetainCountTest[945:10b] Retain count ofstring a is:2147483647

    In Cocoa, before MAC 10.5, we cannot use GC(Garbage Collector), so retainCount(Reference Count Mechanism) is a useful memory manager mechanism. Also, even the GC is supported for mac os x, use the retainCount is a good choice to improve ur applications' performance.

    Maybe u will think the test is strange, when we use alloc/init method to create a object for a class, the retaincount must be 1, but in NSString, we got a very large number:  2147483647, Why?

    The reason is that the @"Hello, string A." a Constant String, the pointer 'a' points to this string, so, obj-c think:"Aha, this pointer cannot be release, so give him the retaincount value INT_MAX, but why use INT_MAX? I think this is a suggested value given by the Cocoa developers". SO, when our code is:

NSString *cc = @"what what what";     NSString *dd = [NSString stringWithString:@"anything"];     ...

the result is the same!

    

   But which can release? Let's see the follows' code(we add test sample 2):

/* Test Sample 2 */     NSString *b = [[NSString alloc]initWithFormat:@"%s", @"Hello, string B."];     NSLog(@"Retain count of string b is:%d", [b retainCount]);

   And this sample's OUTPUT result is:

2009-11-11 17:10:56.773 NSStringRetainCountTest[1088:10b] Retain count ofstring b is:1

  

   The method "initWithFormat:" is a mutable operation, it will copy the strings to a allocated memory. So, the retainCount is 1; It's a little strange, yeah? If we change the code like this:

/* Test Sample 2 */     NSString *b = [[NSString alloc]initWithFormat:@"Aha,%s", @"Hello, string B."];     NSLog(@"Retain count of string b is:%d", [b retainCount]);

    And now, we can see,  @"Hello, string B." is a constant string, that's right, but it appended to @"Aha,", a new string @"Aha, Hello, string B." is created, that's to say, a copy of @"Hello, string B."is created, and this stored into the allocated memory, so the retaincount is 1.

    BUT the Most Strange Thing is this CODE:

char *cchar = "A1";     NSString *strss=[[NSString alloc]initWithUTF8String:cchar];     NSLog(@"rc of strss is: %d", [strss retainCount]);          char *cchar2 = "A";// or = "";     NSString *strss2=[[NSString alloc]initWithUTF8String:cchar2];     NSLog(@"rc of strss is: %d", [strss2 retainCount]);

    The OUTPUT Result is:

2009-11-11 18:16:32.231 NSStringRetainCountTest[2045:10b] rc of strss is: 1 2009-11-11 18:16:32.232 NSStringRetainCountTest[2045:10b] rc of strss is:2147483647

   Who can help me?