alloc and init in Objective-C

Question

I'm assuming the definition of alloc goes along the lines of:

Locates and allocates a block of memory for an object

And the definition init goes something like:

Creates an object in the newly allocated memory block

I'm just trying to wrap my head around more regarding memory management and want to make sure that I'm getting this right..

So what's your question? :)

TotoroTotoro
– TotoroTotoro

2014-03-25 20:56:21 +00:00
Commented Mar 25, 2014 at 20:56 — TotoroTotoro
– TotoroTotoro, Commented Mar 25, 2014 at 20:56
[NSObject alloc]

Bryan Chen
– Bryan Chen

2014-03-25 20:57:37 +00:00
Commented Mar 25, 2014 at 20:57 — Bryan Chen
– Bryan Chen, Commented Mar 25, 2014 at 20:57

Hermann Klecker · Accepted Answer · 2014-03-25 20:58:35Z

1

That is sort of right.

It is right in principle. But init is actually not required to return the same, indentical, object. I never observed this (well, frankly, never checked for it either) but theoretically init may release the allocated object, allocate another one, initialize the second and return a refernce to the second one. Besides that detail you are totally right.

answered Mar 25, 2014 at 20:58

Hermann Klecker

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2 Comments

Chuck Over a year ago

Want to see different objects from init? Take a look at NSArray, NSString, NSDictionary…

Hermann Klecker Over a year ago

I thought there must be some. There must be a reason for that. Thanks @Chuck, I'll keep an eye on alloc/init of those types.

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