FWIW, it’s currently an implementation detail that SELs do map into the global address space in a way that doesn’t collide with anything else; but technically, they are in their own address space and the system could map them otherwise in a manner that does have collisions with other stuff.
In practice, I don’t think that will ever happen, because a) too much existing code makes the assumption that a SEL is de-referenceable or otherwise depends on this implementation detail; and b) we have 64-bit addressing, so we’re not going to run out of address space such that making that change would be advantageous. > On Sep 26, 2016, at 6:17 PM, Slipp Douglas Thompson > <apple+cocoa-...@slippyd.com> wrote: > > I'm just going to throw this out there as a solution, not because I recommend > this approach (it's API misuse after all) but because it would work. > > Instead of using an `NSString *` you could use a `SEL` (AKA `struct > objc_selector *`) since SELs are guaranteed to be unique for each given > string they represent (within a process; AFAIR). > > So your code would become: > > if (context == @selector(mediaLibraryLoaded)) > { > // … > > Or in Swift: > > if context == Selector("mediaLibraryLoaded") > { > // … > (Swift's `Selector.init(_ str:String)` implementation > <https://github.com/apple/swift/blob/master/stdlib/public/SDK/ObjectiveC/ObjectiveC.swift#L98 > > <https://github.com/apple/swift/blob/master/stdlib/public/SDK/ObjectiveC/ObjectiveC.swift#L98>> > just calls `sel_registerName` and (curiously) treats the returned pointer as > a C-string.) > > Again, this is a blatant mis-use of the Objective-C API… but it is also a > built-in compiler-optimized guaranteed-interned string, it won't cause issues > when comparing to other arbitrary `void *`s, and the usage in Swift is almost > identical to Objective-C. > > > ---- > > > My 2¢: I'm still in favor of making all usages of `context` in your app > `NSObject *`s or `nil` because sometimes you do want to store an > `NSDictionary *` or other data in `context` that's meant to be read later. > But if you're stuck with using other libs that don't use `NSObject *`s or > `nil`, or if you really want to ensure your code won't crash because its > making assumptions about what's in the `context` your code registered, then > I acknowledge your case. Key point: I personally wouldn't use the `SEL` > approach, but still. > > — Slipp > _______________________________________________ Cocoa-dev mailing list (Cocoa-dev@lists.apple.com) Please do not post admin requests or moderator comments to the list. Contact the moderators at cocoa-dev-admins(at)lists.apple.com Help/Unsubscribe/Update your Subscription: https://lists.apple.com/mailman/options/cocoa-dev/archive%40mail-archive.com This email sent to arch...@mail-archive.com