It's a good question.

There are some types that are not derived from NSObject, these types are called "Primitive Types." Some examples of these types are

1. int
2. bool
3. short
4. long
5. double
6. char

Sooooo basically any type that is not derived from the NSObject class is a Primitive type and does not require a "*".

Now I bet you are wondering how do I figure out if it's a primitive type or not.

1. An easy way is to look at the color of the syntax in xCode, is it deep blue or a sky blue? Deep blue = primitive type, but this is not entirely reliable as the standards for coloring syntax can fluctuate or change.
   




2. You can option-click on the object after you have typed it in xCode, click the little book in the upper right hand corner, when the class reference viewer comes up, look and see if it inherits from NSObject. If it doesn't it's Primitive and you don't need a "*".
   
   
   
   
   

Note:
There are some alternatives to using the primitive type int, such as the reference type NSInteger, which has some nice baked in functionality of distinguishing between 32 bit and 64 bit, but not all primitive types have an alternative reference type in Objective C.


Just for fun:
In .Net they have primitive types too(I believe they call them value types), kinda. The compiler recognizes traditional primitive types and therefore lets you use the syntax

int i = 5;

But despite the compiler letting you do this, this type still maps back to System.Int32. All things in .Net are mapped back to System.Object. Everything is a reference type, but .Net lets you keep the traditional syntax instead of writing:

System.Int32 i = new System.Int32(5);





Accessorizer I have been told if you do any kind of serious development in Objective C this is the tool to use. At 15 bucks I'll be making it part of my Objective C toolbox especially since I hate typing out all those accessors (variables, @property @synthesize.) The time saved will surely out weigh the cost.

When starting a new project you have the ability to  select a template of premade projects. Two examples of this are
    1. Navigation Based Application
    2. View Based application

When these templates are selected xCode will create the appropriate base controller for you in interface builder, such as "Navigation Controller" or a "View Controller" it will also create the appropriate classes for you with some of the most commonly used delegate and datasource methods along with the appropriate methods to override.

With a new project and selecting Window-based application, you are simply creating a blank slate in which you have to create nearly everything. It's rarely advantageous to use this unless, you are creating something outside the templates offered or you are learning how all the pieces fit together.

I saw this picture on Dave Mark's blog. Dave is a very talented Objective C developer. The picture really got me so I had to post it.

Enjoy.

What a wild month! London, Paris (loved Paris), and Barcelona, followed up with a gig in Philly working for the second biggest software developer in the world on their up front website, SAP.com. Before I dive into the limited aspects I can speak about SAP.com's technology I would like to point out the facet of SAP that has had, and will have, a lasting effect on me, the cafeteria. These people (SAP) treat their people good! Made to order sushi, made to order Thai, a Philly cheese steak that will challenge South Philly's finest and a Starbucks that feels like it was made just for me, all this within a short walk from my desk. Really, next to the BMW the Germans know how to do it.

Lets dive into my first day. I was sitting at my desk, after enjoying my oh-so-delicious lunch of Alaskan Cod; I hear this loud noise getting louder. Turns out it was a helicopter flying in with the American Co-CEO. As he gets out, much like a scene you might expect to see from Iron Man, he has a dream effect on me. He waves at the people there to greet him and follows up with a mock gun shot (I can only hope he made the clicking sound that goes with the mock gun shot) at one of the security guards as he steps into the Escalade, in my mind I say YES, awesome! I know right then and there I'm going to love it for my limited time here.

I digress lets talk about a website that needs to address more nations than a senator trying to get votes in NYC. In short, because this is all I will say and feel comfortable, they follow a Model View Presenter (MVP) development process in making their site. SAP's site addresses content based on what nation/region you are coming from all while maintaining a similar look and feel for every end user. Think localization is easy with .Net...not on this scale boys and girls! Now add a level complexity comprising of several teams in more countries than you can count on one hand, developing for this one site. To create a level of consistency across so many sites a template format was built and an engine on top of the .Net engine to address what should be displayed....this is all I will give up, but I can say it's fun and challenging.

Thanks to VML for making this small yet, incredible contract, possible.