Re: [Objectivelib-discussion] Looks like I might get to open the bidding :-)

[Daniel R. <ult...@gm...>]

On Jul 22, 2005, at 1:48 PM, Will Mason wrote:

> Hi, Rod,
> How could we not be kind in responding to the first actual question
> posted to the list. To answer your question, you can't put simple data
> types in containers, just objects. Fortunately, Cocoa and GNUstep
> provide a convenient wrapper for primitive data types, NSNumber. You
> can do this:
>
> OLVector* v = [OLVector vector];
> [v pushBack: [NSNumber numberWithDouble: 3.14]];
>
> Check the docs for NSNumber to see how it works. Let me know if you
> need anything else,
> Will
>

NSNumber presents one of those revealing aspects of the Objective-C  
philosophy. Rather than templates, which can get troublesome, it's  
nothing to create a class that can work with any object,  
unfortunately leaving out basic data types.

Additionally, if you're ever interested in wrapping other forms of  
non-object data (such as structs or pointers), take a look at  
NSNumber's super class, NSValue. It's incredibly useful and isn't  
advertised enough.

-Daniel