Re: Alloc/dealloc etiquette

[David Phillip Oster]

In article <oster-C482BB.11543417022007@newsclstr02.news.prodigy.com>,
 David Phillip Oster <oster@ieee.org> wrote:

> In article <m2vei1wc52.fsf@local.wv-www.com>,
>  Sherm Pendley <spamtrap@dot-app.org> wrote:
> 
> >     - (void)setFoo:(NSObject *)value {
> >         if (foo != value) {
> >             [foo release];
> >             foo = [value copy];
> >         }
> >     }

Apologies. I was assuming a matching:

- (NSObject *)foo{
  return foo;
}

But, if you always write:

- (NSObject *)foo{
  return [[foo copy] autorelease];
}

then my "swap" criticism doesn't apply. However, I often want access to 
an object's part, not a transient copy of the part. (When I pull a 
puppet's string, connected to its finger, I expect the finger to move, 
not a copy of the finger, which is then immediately thrown away.)