Question

In the following function which one is the best practice?

1. To send an autoreleased object, and make the caller retain it?

2. or send an allocated object, and make the caller release it?

---

- (NSString*) convertDataToString :(NSData*)myData
{
     //just an example, method might not exist
     NSString *str = [[NSString alloc] initWithData:myData];
     return str;
     return [str autoRelease];
}

Answer 1

The memory management rules say your first example is — and this is a direct quote — wrong. It’s not even a matter of preference, as some answers here seem to indicate. The caller does not normally own the object you return, so it should be autoreleased.

The specific example from the rules says this:

This is wrong. Following the ownership policy, it would result in a memory leak.

 – (NSArray *)sprockets {

    NSArray *array = [[NSArray alloc] initWithObjects:mainSprocket,
                               auxiliarySprocket, nil];
    return array;
}

The object’s reference to the new array object is limited to the sprockets method. After the method returns, the object loses its reference to the new object so cannot relinquish ownership. That in itself is not a problem. However, following the naming convention set out earlier, the caller is given no indication that it owns the returned object. The caller would therefore not relinquish ownership of the returned object, leading to a memory leak.