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With Chris Objective C Syntax Reference and Glossary (v1.0)

Class
A class is a basic building block of our app. It's a blueprint that describes the behavior and properties of a component that will
be responsible for doing something in our app.

Classes are comprised of a header (.h):

And an interface file (.m):

Variable
A variable is used to hold data or keep track of an object for later referencing. A local variable is declared inside of a method
and will last as long as the method is being executed. An instance variable is declared in the private interface of the .m file.

Local Variable

Instance Variable

Method
A method is a form a communication between objects. Objects have methods which when called, will execute the block of code
in the method. An instance method is called on an object (an instance of the class). A class method can be called on the class.
Instance Method
In the .h file of a class:

In the .m file of a class

Class Method
In the .h file of a class

In the .m file of a class

Properties
A property is like an instance variable that can be accessed by other objects. A property is used to store data or keep track of
objects.

Declared in the .h file of a class:

Accessed in the .m file using the self keyword:

IF Statement
An If statement lets you test an expression for true or false and executes different branches of code depending on what
conditions are met (or not met)

Switch Statement
A switch statement tests a single int variable and executes different branches of code depending on what the int is:

For Loop

A For loop is a counted loop and lets you execute a set of code statements for a number of times until the count is met

Do While Loop
A Do While loop will loop until a condition is met but is guaranteed to go through the loop at least once before checking the
condition.

While Loop

A While loop will loop until a condition is met but will check the condition at the beginning of each loop including the first. If
the condition is not met initially, then the loop will not be executed.

Array
An array is a data structure used to store lists of objects. It has methods to add, insert, replace and access elements based on
index. A mutable array can be altered after initialized whereas a regular array cannot be altered after initialization.
NSMutableArray

NSArray

An array can be accessed via index like this:

Dictionary
A dictionary is a data structure used to store objects along with an associated key that is used later to retrieve it from the
dictionary:

NSMutableDictionary

NSDictionary

An object in a dictionary can be accessed by key like this:

Delegation and Protocols
Delegation is a way for an object to communicate with other objects without knowing anything about who theyre
communicating with.

For example, the tableview class declares a protocol, which is a list of methods:

It also declares a delegate property and it will call the protocol methods on the object this delegate property points to:


Any object wishing to handle communication with the tableview must implement the protocol by declaring that it conforms to
the protocol in the .h file like this:

In the .m file, it must implement the protocol methods