Question

I know that alloc and retain will increase the reference count of an object. Is there any other different method that actually increment the reference count? And when/how does dealloc is called?

Answer 1

With these the retain count gets increased.

1. new, however it can be seen as alloc+init.

2. retain

3. copy creates new object with retain count=1

4. mutableCopy creates new object with retain count=1

dealloc is called automatically as soon as retain count reaches to 0.