Question

I have seen accessing variable in iphone sdk with -> or . symbol.Which one is the best?what is the difference between self.variable and self->variable?

Answer 1

The dot-notation goes through the accessor, the arrow notation goes directly to the instance variable. Try this code:

@interface Foo : NSObject
@property(assign, nonatomic) NSInteger bar;
@end

@implementation Foo
@synthesize bar;

- (void) setBar: (NSInteger) newBar
{
    NSLog(@"Setting new bar.");
    bar = newBar;
}

- (id) init
{
    self = [super init];
    self->bar = 5; // doesn’t log anything
    self.bar  = 6; // logs
    return self;
}

@end