Hi Stuart, I'm still something of a neophyte, but a theme I've found in threads here is that consistent use of accessors tends to save memory management headaches if you're not using garbage collection. If you use @property and @synthesize to generate your accessors, and then use them to both initialize ( [self setIvar:[[MyObj alloc] init] ) and release ( [self setIvar:nil] ) your ivars, you bypass most common memory management problems. If you want to add custom behavior, be sure to write them according to these guidelines to keep this benefit:
http://developer.apple.com/documentation/Cocoa/Conceptual/MemoryMgmt/Articles/mmAccessorMethods.html Essentially, accessors let you put the majority of your memory management code in one place, rather than forcing you to pay attention to it in every method that uses your ivars. The more abstract benefit of using accessors is that your code becomes easier to maintain and update. If you decide you want to store an ivar differently, you can just change its accessors, rather than changing every method that directly accesses it. Of course, accessors are not a magic bullet for either of these issues, they just help in many ways you might not anticipate. Cheers, and HTH, Adam On Fri, Jan 9, 2009 at 12:27 AM, Stuart Malin <stu...@zhameesha.com> wrote: > I have a class with ivars for which there are accessors. I understand that > the importance of using a setter method (or to use setValue:ForKey:) to set > the ivar so that KVO operates. However, Is there a compelling reason to use, > in the methods of a class, a getter method (or valueForKey:) versus directly > accessing an ivar of the class? > > I have re-read both the Key-Value Observing Programming Guide and Key-Value > Coding Programming Guide, and have not derived guidance from them on this > question. Perhaps I have missed something. > _______________________________________________ > > 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: > http://lists.apple.com/mailman/options/cocoa-dev/acfoltzer%40gmail.com > > This email sent to acfolt...@gmail.com > _______________________________________________ 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: http://lists.apple.com/mailman/options/cocoa-dev/archive%40mail-archive.com This email sent to arch...@mail-archive.com
