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Asked: 2026-05-20T12:26:32+00:00

I am a former java programmer, and I am having some troubles managing the

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I am a former java programmer, and I am having some troubles managing the memory on cocoa touch.
In fact, I think I got the retain/release trick, but still I am not sure I got it right.

For example, I am creating and adding a subview to the main window:

aViewController=[[AViewController alloc]init];//aViewController is (nonatimic,assign), so retaincount = 1 after this line?
[self.window addsubview aViewController];
[aViewController release];//retaincount=0?

And in aViewController I have an IBAction:

[self.view removeFromSuperView];

How can I be sure the object aViewController gets completely ‘deleted’ and memory released after I removed it from superview (think that controller as a graphic-heavy view controller)?

Also, generally, is there a way to be sure an object is deallocated? I am aware that if I ask ownership of an object I have to release it at a certain point, but what if I just want the object’s pointer to be null at a certain point(not basing on the retaincount)? Should I call dealloc directly? I find sometimes very confusing to keep under control the retain/release mechanism.

If someone could give me a quick breakdown to make my mind ‘click’, i would be extremely grateful.
Thanks.

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1 Answer

  1. Editorial Team

    The short answer is you shouldn’t worry about when an object gets deallocated (unless you are debugging a memory management problem). You should just worry about ensuring that if your code retains, copies or inits an object, it releases or autoreleases it. By doing so you will ensure reference counts are properly maintained and hence deallocation will be managed for you.

    Leave the task of deciding when to dealloc an object to the runtime. Never call dealloc directly unless you are calling the super classes dealloc method at the end of your objects dealloc method.

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