Objective-c – Optional arguments in Objective-C 2.0

objective-c

In Objective-C 2.0, is it possible to make a method where the argument is optional? That is, you can have a method call like this:

[aFraction print];

as well as this:

[aFraction print: someParameter];

in the same program.

Apple's Objective-C 2.0 Programming Language guide contrasts Obj-C with Python and seems to say this is not allowed. I'm still learning and I want to be sure. If it is possible, then what is the syntax, because my second code example does not work.

Update:
OK, I just made two methods, both named "print".

header

-(void) print;
-(void) print: (BOOL) someSetting;

implementation

-(void) print {
    [self print:0];
}

-(void) print: (BOOL) someSetting {
    BOOL sv;
    sv = someSetting;

    if ( sv ) {
        NSLog(@"cool stuff turned on");
    }
    else {
        NSLog(@"cool stuff turned off");
    }
}

the relevant program lines

    ...
    printParamFlag = TRUE;

// no parameter
    [aCodeHolder print];

// single parameter
    [aCodeHolder print:printParamFlag];
    ...

I can't believe that worked. Is there any reason I shouldn't do this?

Best Solution

You can declare multiple methods:

- (void)print;
- (void)printWithParameter:(id)parameter;
- (void)printWithParameter:(id)parameter andColor:(NSColor *)color;

In the implementation you can do this:

- (void)print {
    [self printWithParameter:nil];
}

- (void)printWithParameter:(id)parameter {
    [self printWithParameter:nil andColor:[NSColor blackColor]];
}

Edit:

Please do not use print and print: at the same time. First of all, it doesn't indicate what the parameter is and secondly no one (ab)uses Objective-C this way. Most frameworks have very clear method names, this is one thing that makes Objective-C so pain-free to program with. A normal developer doesn't expect this kind of methods.

There are better names, for example:

- (void)printUsingBold:(BOOL)bold;
- (void)printHavingAllThatCoolStuffTurnedOn:(BOOL)coolStuff;

Related Solutions

Objective-c – Sending a message to nil in Objective-C

Well, I think it can be described using a very contrived example. Let's say you have a method in Java which prints out all of the elements in an ArrayList:

void foo(ArrayList list)
{
    for(int i = 0; i < list.size(); ++i){
        System.out.println(list.get(i).toString());
    }
}

Now, if you call that method like so: someObject.foo(NULL); you're going to probably get a NullPointerException when it tries to access list, in this case in the call to list.size(); Now, you'd probably never call someObject.foo(NULL) with the NULL value like that. However, you may have gotten your ArrayList from a method which returns NULL if it runs into some error generating the ArrayList like someObject.foo(otherObject.getArrayList());

Of course, you'll also have problems if you do something like this:

ArrayList list = NULL;
list.size();

Now, in Objective-C, we have the equivalent method:

- (void)foo:(NSArray*)anArray
{
    int i;
    for(i = 0; i < [anArray count]; ++i){
        NSLog(@"%@", [[anArray objectAtIndex:i] stringValue];
    }
}

Now, if we have the following code:

[someObject foo:nil];

we have the same situation in which Java will produce a NullPointerException. The nil object will be accessed first at [anArray count] However, instead of throwing a NullPointerException, Objective-C will simply return 0 in accordance with the rules above, so the loop will not run. However, if we set the loop to run a set number of times, then we're first sending a message to anArray at [anArray objectAtIndex:i]; This will also return 0, but since objectAtIndex: returns a pointer, and a pointer to 0 is nil/NULL, NSLog will be passed nil each time through the loop. (Although NSLog is a function and not a method, it prints out (null) if passed a nil NSString.

In some cases it's nicer to have a NullPointerException, since you can tell right away that something is wrong with the program, but unless you catch the exception, the program will crash. (In C, trying to dereference NULL in this way causes the program to crash.) In Objective-C, it instead just causes possibly incorrect run-time behavior. However, if you have a method that doesn't break if it returns 0/nil/NULL/a zeroed struct, then this saves you from having to check to make sure the object or parameters are nil.

Objective-c – Generating random numbers in Objective-C

You should use the arc4random_uniform() function. It uses a superior algorithm to rand. You don't even need to set a seed.

#include <stdlib.h>
// ...
// ...
int r = arc4random_uniform(74);

The arc4random man page:

NAME
     arc4random, arc4random_stir, arc4random_addrandom -- arc4 random number generator

LIBRARY
     Standard C Library (libc, -lc)

SYNOPSIS
     #include <stdlib.h>

     u_int32_t
     arc4random(void);

     void
     arc4random_stir(void);

     void
     arc4random_addrandom(unsigned char *dat, int datlen);

DESCRIPTION
     The arc4random() function uses the key stream generator employed by the arc4 cipher, which uses 8*8 8
     bit S-Boxes.  The S-Boxes can be in about (2**1700) states.  The arc4random() function returns pseudo-
     random numbers in the range of 0 to (2**32)-1, and therefore has twice the range of rand(3) and
     random(3).

     The arc4random_stir() function reads data from /dev/urandom and uses it to permute the S-Boxes via
     arc4random_addrandom().

     There is no need to call arc4random_stir() before using arc4random(), since arc4random() automatically
     initializes itself.

EXAMPLES
     The following produces a drop-in replacement for the traditional rand() and random() functions using
     arc4random():

           #define foo4random() (arc4random() % ((unsigned)RAND_MAX + 1))

Best Solution

Related Solutions

Objective-c – Sending a message to nil in Objective-C

Objective-c – Generating random numbers in Objective-C

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