Why is there NSInteger and not NSLong or even NSLongLong?

Question

NSInteger is integer object. So surely there should be long object?

NSInteger is not an object? Ah yes, I got mixed up with NSNumber. — GeneCode, Jan 10 '17 at 15:59
I wish they are named differently. Like CGInteger or something. NS normally is for objects. — GeneCode, Jan 10 '17 at 16:03
@GeneCode The `NS` prefix is for everything that commonly comes from the Foundation and AppKit frameworks — including things like `NSRect`, `NSPoint`, and other C types and structs. `CG` is the prefix for the CoreGraphics framework, which is unrelated. — Itai Ferber, Jan 10 '17 at 16:08

score 5 · Accepted Answer · answered Jan 10 '17 at 15:50

5

NSInteger and NSUInteger are platform specific, so on 32 bit system is declared as an int and on 64 bit system it is declared as a long.

answered Jan 10 '17 at 15:50

rckoenes

So if 4billion is held by NSInteger, it works on 64bit and overflow on 32bit? – GeneCode Jan 10 '17 at 15:58
Yep, you can see in the `NSObjCRuntime.h` header file. – rckoenes Jan 10 '17 at 16:01
That sucks don't it? I don't see the point of using NSInteger. – GeneCode Jan 10 '17 at 16:02
1

Well it allows you code to be future proof, why use 32bit int on a 64 bit system. But if you know before hand that you need to store a large number you should a type that can hold it. – rckoenes Jan 10 '17 at 16:06
Yea. That's what I mean. We should always know beforehand the range of the number that we're gonna use. – GeneCode Jan 11 '17 at 02:33

score 1 · Answer 2 · edited May 23 '17 at 11:45

1

NSInteger is a foundation type, as you can see here.

There are also other useful primitive types, like NSRect, NSSize, etc.

Apple simply chose not to have a NSLong or NSLongLong type defined in foundation.

More information as to when to use NSInteger (and what the considerations are behind them) can be found in this related question.

edited May 23 '17 at 11:45

Community

answered Jan 10 '17 at 15:48

2 Answers2