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Editorial Team
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Asked: 2026-05-19T01:05:55+00:00

I’m wondering what would be the correct approach after executing a command that allocates

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I’m wondering what would be the correct approach after executing a command that allocates memory in Objective C (I’m mainly referring to iOS apps).
My dilemma comes from the fact that checking for the success of failure of a memory allocation operation adds lots of lines of code, while wondering whether this is at all useful.
Moreover, sometimes memory allocations are obvious, such as using ‘alloc’, but sometimes they are taking place behind the scenes. And even if we check each and every allocation – when we find it failed – there isn’t much we could actually do. So maybe the correct approach is to just let it fail and have the app crash?
Take a look at this code:

// Explicit memory allocation
NSArray a1 = [[NSArray alloc] initWithObjects:someObj, nil];
if (!a1) {
  // Should we make this check at all? Is there really what to do?
}

// Implicit memory allocation
NSArray a2 = [NSArray arrayWithObjects:someObj, nil];
if (!a2) {
  // should we make this check at all? Is there really what to do?
}

What in your opinion would be the correct approach? Check or not check for allocation failures? iOS developers out there – how have you handled it in your apps?

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1 Answer

  1. Editorial Team

    With the power you have in an Iphone/smartphone, the time it takes to compute a few test is ridiculous to be thinking “is it really worth checking”, it is always good test and catch any failures in your code/allocations. (if you don’t it sounds more like your lazy to add a few extra lines in your code.

    Also “letting the app crash” gives a REALLY poor impression of your application, the user see the app close for no reason and thinks its a poor quality software.
    You should always add your tests and if you can’t do anything about the error then at least you should display a message before the app closes (makes the user less frustrated).

    there a several options when tracking memory allocations, like catching exception. testing if the pointer returned is nil, checking the size of the list etc.

    you should think of ways to let your application run in the case the allocation fails:

    • if it is jsut a view of your interface, display a message saying fail to load the particular view …

    • if it is the main and only view, close the application gracefully with a message

    …

    I don’t know what application you are working on but if you are short on memory, you should consider creating a system to allocate a deallocated memory as your progressing in your app, so that you always have the maximum memory available. it might be slightly slower than keeping everything cached but you app quality will improve if you suppress any force close.

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