Question

Here is my code

#import <Foundation/Foundation.h>

int main (int argc, const char * argv[])
{
    NSAutoreleasePool *pool = [[NSAutoreleasePool alloc] init];

    NSString *str = [[NSString alloc]initWithString:@"This is string object"];
    NSLog(@"%lu", [str retainCount]);
    [pool drain];


    return 0;
}

I expected the output to be 1 becase it is newly created object, but the result is 1152921504606846.
What is wrong here ?

Answer 1

Three important points:

1. This has nothing to do with autorelease pools. Your variable is allocd, so it not added to the pool
2. Never use retainCount for debugging. See the answers to this question
3. Your string is effectively a constant, so the retain count is probably MAX_INT. But you shouldn’t rely on that