ARC

ARC as a technology is not available in mulle-objc and never will be.

Ideally though, code should remain functional in ARC but work flawlessly in mulle-objc.

Use convenience constructors

Outside of -init and -dealloc, replace [[obj alloc] init] calls with convenience constructors like +[NSArray array], if available.

Create your own convenience constructors

If a convenience constructor is not available, it might be useful to create your own with a category. Consider this if there is a lot of calls for the same class/method combination.

This is the code to replace a [[Foo alloc] initWithRandomNumber] with [Foo fooWithRandomNumber]:

@interface Foo( Convenience)

+ (instancetype) fooWithRandomNumber;

@end


@implementation Foo( Convenience)

+ (instancetype) fooWithRandomNumber
{
   id   obj;

   obj = [[Foo alloc] initWithRandomNumber:rand()];
#if ! __has_feature(objc_arc)
   obj = [obj autorelease];
#endif
   return( obj);
}
@end

Wrap alloc/init calls

You could also use this idea to wrap your [[obj alloc] init] code

#if __has_feature(objc_arc)
# define AUTORELEASE( x)  x
#else
# define AUTORELEASE( x)  NSAutoreleaseObject( x)
#endif

So you can simplify the above written +fooWithRandomNumber like this:

+ (instancetype) fooWithRandomNumber
{
   return( AUTORELEASE( [[Foo alloc] initWithRandomNumber:rand()] ));
}

Add [super dealloc] to -dealloc

You could use this idea to modify your -dealloc code

#if __has_feature(objc_arc)
# define SUPER_DEALLOC()
#else
# define SUPER_DEALLOC()  [super dealloc]
#endif

- (void) dealloc
{
   SUPER_DEALLOC();
}

Fix convenience constructors in -init

- (id) init
{
   self = [super init];
   if( self)
      _foo = [NSArray array];
   return( self);
}

Here an instance variable is initialized with an autoreleased NSArray, which will soon be unavailable.

Write _foo = [[NSArray alloc] init]; to make your code ARC and mulle-objc compatible.

Release instance variables manually

There is often no -dealloc method in ARC code. That is fine if the class has only properties. Then mulle-objc will clean up automatically. If your class has non-property instance variables, they must be released in -dealloc or -finalize.

Since -finalize isn’t used in ARC code, it can be a good place to do it. Othewise you could use #if __has_feature( objc_arc) in -dealloc.

#ifdef __MULLE_OBJC__
- (void) finalize
{
   [_foo autorelease];
   _foo = nil;

   [super finalize];
}
#endif

Remember to use -autorelease instead of -release. Also nil out the instance variable in -finalize.