Getting my head around the practical applications of strong and weak pointers in Objective-C

Posted by Chris Wilson on Stack Overflow See other posts from Stack Overflow or by Chris Wilson
Published on 2012-11-29T10:38:27Z Indexed on 2012/11/29 11:04 UTC
Read the original article Hit count: 315

Filed under:

objective-c

|

pointers

I've just read the accepted excellent answer to this question that clarifies the conceptual differences between strong and weak pointers in Objective-C, and I'm still trying to understand the practical differences. I come from a C++ background where these concepts don't exist, and I'm having trouble figuring out where I would use one vs the other.

Could someone please provide a practical example, using Objective-C code, that illustrates the different uses of strong and weak pointers?

© Stack Overflow or respective owner

Related posts about objective-c

Blocking access to websites with objective-C / root privileges in objective-C

as seen on Stack Overflow - Search for 'Stack Overflow'
I am writing a program in Objective-C (XCode 3.2, on Snow Leopard) that is capable of either selectively blocking certain sites for a duration or only allow certain sites (and thus block all others) for a duration. The reasoning behind this program is rather simple. I tend to get distracted when I… >>> More
Objective-C with some Objective-C++, calling a normal c++ method "referenced from" problem

as seen on Stack Overflow - Search for 'Stack Overflow'
Hi, I made an Objective-C project for the iPhone. I had only one cpp class, the soundEngine taken from some Apple demo. Now I'm trying to merge OpenFeint which is coded in Objective-C++. As soon as I drop in the code without even referring to it from my code, when I hit Build, my Objective-C code… >>> More
Add an objective @property attribute in objective-c

as seen on Stack Overflow - Search for 'Stack Overflow'
Does anyone know of a way to add additional attribute types to the @property keyword without modifying the compiler? Or can anyone think of another way to genericize getter/setter creation? Basically, I have a lot of cases in a recent project where it's handy for objects to lazily instantiate their… >>> More
ObjectiveC builtin template system ?

as seen on Stack Overflow - Search for 'Stack Overflow'
I am developing an iPhone application and I use HTML to display formatted text. I often display the same webpage, but with a different content. I would like to use a template HTML file, and then fill it with my diffent values. I wonder if ObjectiveC has a template system similar to ERB in Ruby. That… >>> More
ObjectiveC Syntax for Specifying Protocol Name in Method Argument

as seen on Stack Overflow - Search for 'Stack Overflow'
What's the ObjectiveC syntax for specifying a protocol as an argument in a method? Say I have 2 protocols, MyProtocol and MyProtocolCB: @protocol MyProtocolCB <NSObject> - (void) func; @end @protocol MyProtocol <NSObject> - (void) register:(MyProtocolCB*) cb; @end I'm receiving this… >>> More

Related posts about pointers

C++ smart pointers: sharing pointers vs. sharing data

as seen on Stack Overflow - Search for 'Stack Overflow'
In this insightful article, one of the Qt programmers tries to explain the different kinds of smart pointers Qt implements. In the beginning, he makes a distinction between sharing data and sharing the pointers themselves: First, let’s get one thing straight: there’s a difference between sharing … >>> More
handling refrence to pointers/double pointers using SWIG [C++ to Java]

as seen on Stack Overflow - Search for 'Stack Overflow'
My code has an interface like class IExample { ~IExample(); //pure virtual methods ...}; a class inheriting the interface like class CExample : public IExample { protected: CExample(); //implementation of pure virtual methods ... }; and a global function to create object of this class - createExample(… >>> More
char pointers & integer pointers (++)

as seen on Stack Overflow - Search for 'Stack Overflow'
i have two pointers, char *str1; int *str2; if i look at the size of both the pointers lets assume str1=4 bytes str2=4 bytes str1++ will increment by 1 byte but if str2++ will increment 4 byte could anybody tell e the concept behind this? >>> More
Smart pointers - cases where they cannot replace raw pointers

as seen on Stack Overflow - Search for 'Stack Overflow'
HI, I have this query about smart pointers. I heard from one of my friends that smart pointers can almost always replace raw pointers. but when i asked him what are the other cases where smart pointers cannot replace the raw pointers,i did not get the answer from him. could anybody please tell… >>> More
C++ Pointers: Number of levels of Indirection

as seen on Programmers - Search for 'Programmers'
In a C++ program that doesn't contain legacy C code, is there a guideline regarding the maximum number of levels of indirection that should be used in the source code? I know that in C (as opposed to C++), some programmers have used pointers to pointers for a multiple dimension array, but for the… >>> More