Is a synthesized property already alloc/init -ed?

Question

If I have a custom NSObject class called ProgramModel, does it get alloc/init -ed when I @property and @synthesize it from another cla

Answer 1

By default, all instance variables are zero'd out. In the case of objects, that means they're nil. If you want an initial value in the property, you need to put it there during your initializer/viewDidLoad method.