Add categories description and Car example.

This commit is contained in:
Levi Bostian 2014-01-08 21:27:42 -06:00
parent 066dc1b257
commit e3b20c7e26

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@ -444,11 +444,96 @@ distance = 18; // References "long distance" from MyClass implementation
@end // States the end of the implementation
/*
* A protocol declares methods that can be implemented by any class.
* Protocols are not classes themselves. They simply define an interface
* that other objects are responsible for implementing.
*/
// Categories
// A category is a group of methods designed to extend a class. They allow you to add new methods
// to an existing class for organizational purposes. This is not to be mistaken with subclasses.
// Subclasses are meant to CHANGE functionality of an object while categories instead ADD
// functionality to an object.
// Categories allow you to:
// -- Add methods to an existing class for organizational purposes.
// -- Allow you to extend Objective-C object classes (ex: NSString) to add your own methods.
// -- Add ability to create protected and private methods to classes.
// NOTE: Do not override methods of the base class in a category even though you have the ability
// to. Overriding methods may cause compiler errors later between different categories and it
// ruins the purpose of categories to only ADD functionality. Subclass instead to override methods.
// Here is a simple Car base class.
@interface Car : NSObject
@property NSString *make;
@property NSString *color;
- (void)turnOn;
- (void)accelerate;
@end
// And the simple Car base class implementation:
#import "Car.h"
@implementation Car
@synthesize make = _make;
@synthesize color = _color;
- (void)turnOn {
NSLog(@"Car is on.");
}
- (void)accelerate {
NSLog(@"Accelerating.");
}
@end
// Now, if we wanted to create a Truck object, we would create a subclass of Car instead as it would
// be changing the functionality of the Car to behave like a truck. But lets say we want to just add
// functionality to this existing Car. A good example would be to clean the car. So we would create
// a category to add these cleaning methods:
// @interface filename: Car+Clean.h
#import "Car.h" // Make sure to import base class to extend.
@interface Car (Clean) // The category name is inside () following the name of the base class.
- (void)washWindows; // Names of the new methods we are adding to our Car object.
- (void)wax;
@end
// @implementation filename: Car+Clean.m
#import "Car+Clean.h"
@implementation Car (Clean)
- (void)washWindows {
NSLog(@"Windows washed.");
}
- (void)wax {
NSLog(@"Waxed.");
}
@end
// Any Car object instance has the ability to use a category. All they need to do is import it:
#import "Car+Clean.h" // Import as many different categories as you want to use.
#import "Car.h" // Also need to import base class to use it's original functionality.
int main(int argc, const char *argv[]) {
@autoreleasepool {
Car *mustang = [[Car alloc] init];
mustang.color = @"Red";
mustang.make = @"Ford";
[mustang turnOn]; // Use methods from base Car class.
[mustang washWindows]; // Use methods from Car's Clean category.
}
return 0;
}
// Protocols
// A protocol declares methods that can be implemented by any class.
// Protocols are not classes themselves. They simply define an interface
// that other objects are responsible for implementing.
@protocol MyProtocol
- (void)myProtocolMethod;
@end