Why is there an NSInteger?

Question

If NSInteger is just like a regular int then why does it exist and what is its purpose in being called NSInteger?

I'm new to Mac OS X programming and we'll be having a report for this.

Thanks for fixing this question, @Tom Duckering! – Jonathan Sterling May 03 '11 at 14:23 — Jonathan Sterling, May 03 '11 at 14:23

score 22 · Accepted Answer · answered May 03 '11 at 14:21

It's an architecture-safe (64 vs 32 bit) type to support different platforms and implementations of C.

Apple recommends that you use NSInteger over normal types anyway, I would assume for portability!

You can read more at this Foundation Types Reference.

Basic description:

When building 32-bit applications, NSInteger is a 32-bit integer. A 64-bit application treats NSInteger as a 64-bit integer.

score 2 · Answer 2 · answered May 03 '11 at 14:21

2

Other than the typedef being different on different systems (long on 64-bit systems, int on 32-bit), there isn't much of a reason.

Arguably, it gives the impression that an NSInteger is an object, when it's not.

answered May 03 '11 at 14:21

Wooble

1

yeah, it actually confuses me with the other NS Classes – Vincent Bacalso May 03 '11 at 14:36

score 1 · Answer 3 · answered May 03 '11 at 14:22

1

A NSInteger will be 4 bytes on a 32-bit machine and 8 on a 64-bit.

answered May 03 '11 at 14:22

Nyx0uf

3 Answers3