Question

MyClass *var = [[MyClass alloc]initWithSomeNumber:15];
[self addChild:var];
[self removeChild:var cleanup:YES];

Do I have to call release for var? Or does the removeChild method already takes care of such? Is there a way to create var without having to use alloc? I heard that there is a class method for nodes called node. But it doesn’t accept parameters (and as you can see I need to pass the integer 15).

Answer 1

Yes, it is one of the rules defined in the Memory management policy

You own any object you create

You use alloc to allocate space for var, which will set the var reference counter to 1. NO matter how many other objects claim ownership after this (by sendingretain) you must send release on var to decrement the reference counter by 1. Otherwise, the reference counter will never reach 0 which means that the memory used for var will never be deallocated, i.e. end up with a memory leak.

MyClass *var = [[MyClass alloc]initWithSomeNumber:15]; // ref count = 1
[self addChild:var]; // ref count ++
[self removeChild:var cleanup:YES]; //ref count--
//ref count is 1