Apple finally updated the Memory Management Guide to deal with IBOutlets.
They came to the same recommendation that many of us have. Treat them exactly like other properties. Mark them as retain properties, release them in -dealloc, and overload -setView to clear them in low-memory situations. This last recommendation was one that many of us used, but was based on undocumented behaviors. Apple finally documented the behavior because there’s no other good way to do it given their internal implementation.
Unfortunately they haven’t updated the “Using View Controllers” documentation to include this stuff, and the section on how -loadView works is still a bit vague. I’ve sent them feedback on those pages.
Here are the three magic words: +alloc, -copy and +new. If you commit these magic words to memory, and devote yourself to a life of accessors, then Cocoa memory management should cause you no fear.
For those interested in the path to memory management enlightenment, you should first deeply understand every word of the Memory Management Rules. Don’t be afraid, it is very short, and if you will commit it to heart, you will avoid much suffering in the future. Read more…
Two posts in a day… but this was a completely different topic.
I’m beginning work on my first Leopard-only application, and so I’m trying out garbage collection. Sure, I’m excited about garbage collection. Sure, I have no great love of keeping track of my retain counts and autorelease pools. But….
It feels really, really weird to not release my variables. I tend to rely on autorelease a lot. I know there are some disadvantages, but I like the fact that it notes your intention when you allocate the memory. Read more…
