NSThread and memory management

Question

Imagine I create and execute an NSThread object using detachNewThreadSelector:toTarget:withObject:. The method executed by the thread might look like this:

- (void)search {
    NSAutoreleasePool *pool = [[NSAutoreleasePool alloc] init];

    // perform a lengthy search here.

    [pool release];
}

I then might use the cancel method to kill the thread while it's running, before the pool gets released. What happens to the NSAutoreleasePool object? I suppose it will leak, won't it?

Answer 1

-(void)cancel doesn't force cancellation, it merely requests it. Your -(void)search will run to completion. Read "Responding to the Cancel Command" for details.

Answer 2

I highly recommend NSOperationQueue for simple concurrent tasks.