Objective-C Recipes: A Problem-Solution Approach

Chapter    ⁸

Memory Management

This chapter explores how to manage memory with Objective-C.

The recipes in this chapter will show you how to:

• Understand memory management
• Use reference counting to manage memory
• Use Automatic Reference Counting (ARC) to manage memory
• Use garbage collection (GC) to manage memory on the Mac

8.1 Understanding Memory Management

Problem

You want to understand how to manage memory effectively in your Objective-C applications.

Solution

Memory is one of the finite resources that your Objective-C application requires. Every variable and object that you use in Objective-C takes up some memory. Since memory is a finite resource, it’s possible to use up all the memory that you have available.

Programmers who work in C-based ...