Understanding reference counting with Cocoa and Objective-C

Question

I\'m just beginning to have a look at Objective-C and Cocoa with a view to playing with the iPhone SDK. I\'m reasonably comfortable with C\'s malloc and f

Answer 1

I'll not add to the specific of retain/release other than you might want to think about dropping $50 and getting the Hillegass book, but I would strongly suggest getting into using the Instruments tools very early in the development of your application (even your first one!). To do so, Run->Start with performance tools. I'd start with Leaks which is just one of many of the instruments available but will help to show you when you've forgot to release. It's quit daunting how much information you'll be presented with. But check out this tutorial to get up and going fast:
COCOA TUTORIAL: FIXING MEMORY LEAKS WITH INSTRUMENTS

Actually trying to force leaks might be a better way of, in turn, learning how to prevent them! Good luck ;)