I don’t have a problem with using “new” vs. alloc/init, but there are a couple of technical issues hiding behind this, though in current practice they make little difference.
1. NSObject has “new” with a standard meaning. That means you can use “new” on any subclass where it’s OK to use the simple “init” without parameters. However, for classes that need parameters, or have multiple inits, there’s no standard “newWithX:…” class method unless you provide it yourself. You can’t really provide this for Cocoa classes (you could try adding it via a category, but this seems like a bad idea), which means your code uses a mixture of strategies to create instances, even of the same class, depending on the parameters needed. If that doesn’t bother you, fine. This is purely a matter of preference. 2. In modern Obj-C, a class method beginning with “new…” is specially meaningful to the compiler under ARC. By default, it has +1 ownership semantics for the returned reference. Using Jens’ earlier example, that means that the following are subtly different: > [NSArray array] // +0 semantics > [NSArray new] // +1 semantics For custom “new…” methods, the declaration can override the default semantics with a compile-time attribute, which means you cannot in general be certain of the semantics without looking at the declaration. Of course, if the *calling* code is also ARC, then it doesn’t matter, because ARC keeps track of the semantics for you. So, as I said, little practical difference. _______________________________________________ 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
