Why is there no way to do introspection in Objective C with Objects?

Posted by user346741 on Stack Overflow See other posts from Stack Overflow or by user346741
Published on 2010-05-21T04:07:50Z Indexed on 2010/05/21 4:10 UTC
Read the original article Hit count: 273

Filed under:

objective-c

|

reflection

|

introspection

I have seen examples (on here especially) of calling hideous C functions and getting structures back that have to be iterated, replete with reams of underbars.

Why can't I do this (pseudo to follow):

  Money *cost = [[Money alloc] init];

  for (Property *property in [[cost class] properties]){
    ..
  }

  for (Method *method in [[cost class] methods]){
    ..
  }

?

© Stack Overflow or respective owner

Related posts about objective-c

Blocking access to websites with objective-C / root privileges in objective-C

as seen on Stack Overflow - Search for 'Stack Overflow'
I am writing a program in Objective-C (XCode 3.2, on Snow Leopard) that is capable of either selectively blocking certain sites for a duration or only allow certain sites (and thus block all others) for a duration. The reasoning behind this program is rather simple. I tend to get distracted when I… >>> More
Objective-C with some Objective-C++, calling a normal c++ method "referenced from" problem

as seen on Stack Overflow - Search for 'Stack Overflow'
Hi, I made an Objective-C project for the iPhone. I had only one cpp class, the soundEngine taken from some Apple demo. Now I'm trying to merge OpenFeint which is coded in Objective-C++. As soon as I drop in the code without even referring to it from my code, when I hit Build, my Objective-C code… >>> More
Add an objective @property attribute in objective-c

as seen on Stack Overflow - Search for 'Stack Overflow'
Does anyone know of a way to add additional attribute types to the @property keyword without modifying the compiler? Or can anyone think of another way to genericize getter/setter creation? Basically, I have a lot of cases in a recent project where it's handy for objects to lazily instantiate their… >>> More
ObjectiveC Syntax for Specifying Protocol Name in Method Argument

as seen on Stack Overflow - Search for 'Stack Overflow'
What's the ObjectiveC syntax for specifying a protocol as an argument in a method? Say I have 2 protocols, MyProtocol and MyProtocolCB: @protocol MyProtocolCB <NSObject> - (void) func; @end @protocol MyProtocol <NSObject> - (void) register:(MyProtocolCB*) cb; @end I'm receiving this… >>> More
ObjectiveC builtin template system ?

as seen on Stack Overflow - Search for 'Stack Overflow'
I am developing an iPhone application and I use HTML to display formatted text. I often display the same webpage, but with a different content. I would like to use a template HTML file, and then fill it with my diffent values. I wonder if ObjectiveC has a template system similar to ERB in Ruby. That… >>> More

Related posts about reflection

Reflection: Is using reflection still "bad" or "slow"? What has changed with reflection since 2002?

as seen on Programmers - Search for 'Programmers'
I've noticed when dealing with Expressions or Expression Trees I'm using reflection a lot to set and get values in properties and what have you. It has occurred to me that the use of reflection seems to be getting more and more common. Things like DataAnotations for validation, Attribute heavy ORMs… >>> More
Rails Associations - Callback Sequence/Magic

as seen on Stack Overflow - Search for 'Stack Overflow'
Taking following association declaration as an example: class Post has_many :comments end Just by declaring the has_many :comments, ActiveRecord adds several methods of which I am particularly interested in comments which returns array of comments. I browsed through the code and following seems… >>> More
lambda expression based reflection vs normal reflection

as seen on Stack Overflow - Search for 'Stack Overflow'
What is the difference between normal reflection and the reflection that can be done with lambda expressions such as this (taken form build your own MVVM): public void NotifyOfPropertyChange<TProperty>(Expression<Func<TProperty>> property) { var lambda = (LambdaExpression)property; … >>> More
actionscript3: reflect-class applied on rotationY

as seen on Stack Overflow - Search for 'Stack Overflow'
Hi, I'm using a class which applies a visual reflection-effect to defined movieclips. I use a reflection-class from here: link to source. It works like a charm except when I apply a rotation to the movieclip. In my case the reflection is still visible but only a part of it. What am I doing wrong?… >>> More
System.Reflection - Global methods aren't available for reflection

as seen on Stack Overflow - Search for 'Stack Overflow'
I have an issue with a semantic gap between the CLR and System.Reflection. System.Reflection does not (AFAIK) support reflecting on global methods in an assembly. At the assembly level, I must start with the root types. My compiler can produce assemblies with global methods, and my standard bootstrap… >>> More