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Performance difference between dot notation versus method call in Objective-C

Tarun Kumar177331-Jul-2015

You can use a standard dot notation or a method call in Objective-C to access a property of an object in Objective-C.

myObject.property = YES;

or

[myObject setProperty:YES];

Is there a difference in performance (in terms of accessing the property)? Is it just a matter of preference in terms of coding style?

iphoneiphone ios objective c 
Updated on 01-Aug-2015
Tarun Kumar

Tarun Kumar

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1 Answers

Anonymous User

Anonymous User

01-Aug-2015

Dot notation for property access in Objective-C is a message send, just as bracket notation. That is, given this:

Foo *foo = [[Foo alloc] init];
foo.bar = YES;
@interface Foo : NSObject
@property BOOL bar;
@end
Foo *foo = [[Foo alloc] init];
foo.bar = YES;
foo setBar:YES];

The last two lines will compile exactly the same. The only thing that changes this is if a property has a getter and/or setter attribute specified; however, all it does is change what message gets sent, not whether a message is sent:

@interface MyView : NSView 
@property(getter=isEmpty) BOOL empty; 
@end 
if ([someView isEmpty]) { /* ... */ } 
if (someView.empty) { /* ... */ }

Both of the last two lines will compile identically.

 

 

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