malloc property objective c

Question

Currently I am using NSMutableArray as a property. However I am also using opengl and for performance purposes I want to use malloc to create an a pointer to the int array and have this as the property.

How would I do this in objective c and still make sure that my memory is safe? Perhaps this is not even a safe thing to do in objective c? Mixing malloc with properties.

Answer 1

You can have pointers as properties. You're going to have to manage the memory yourself though, (ie since it won't be an objective c object, it can't be automatically retained and release.)

The following should work.

@interface ClassWithProperties : NSObject {
    int *pointer;
}

@property int *pointer;

@end


@implementation ClassWithProperties

@synthesize pointer;

- (void) initializePointer {
    self.pointer = malloc(sizeof(int) * 8);
}

- (void) dealloc {
    free(self.pointer);
}

@end