Why would we use a pointer in an NSInteger but not in an NSNumber?

Question

I have an NSInteger that doesn't use a pointer and an NSNumber that does use a pointer. Can someone explain to me why this is the case? All my teacher said was the NSInteger is being used as a type alias but I'm not familiar with that either yet.

This question asked a direct question asking for the reason there was no pointer in NSInteger; not asking for all the differences.

I think you can find the answer here (with even more information): http://stackoverflow.com/questions/1285098/whats-the-difference-between-nsnumber-and-nsinteger — kbunarjo, Dec 27 '16 at 03:24

score 0 · Accepted Answer · answered Dec 27 '16 at 03:24

0

Bear in mind that Objective-C is C. Thus:

An NSInteger is a scalar, a built-in C data type (an integer). [The actual size of this integer depends on the architecture, 32-bit vs. 64-bit. But it is still some form of C integer.]
An NSNumber is an object; Objective-C object references are represented as C pointers.

answered Dec 27 '16 at 03:24

matt

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Okay perfect. Got it...... because pointers can only be used on objects and not on C data types. – David Synder Dec 27 '16 at 03:27
Pointers _can_ be used on C data types. You can have a pointer-to-int. But you don't have one _here_, nor do you need one. – matt Dec 27 '16 at 03:28
Might help you to read my book: http://www.apeth.com/iOSBook/ch01.html#_pointers – matt Dec 27 '16 at 03:29
okay wonderful. Thank you for your help. – David Synder Dec 27 '16 at 03:35
loving the detail in the book. great presentation. – David Synder Dec 27 '16 at 03:57

Why would we use a pointer in an NSInteger but not in an NSNumber?

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