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objective-C? delegates enough and do not explain them very well for me to truly understand their power and function.
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C# delegates are similar to pointers to functions, in C or C++. A delegate is a reference type variable that holds the reference to a method. The reference can be changed at runtime. Delegates are especially used for implementing events and the call-back methods. All delegates are implicitly derived from the System.
A data source is like a delegate except that, instead of being delegated control of the user interface, it is delegated control of data. A data source is an outlet held by NSView and UIView objects such as table views and outline views that require a source from which to populate their rows of visible data.
What is delegate methods in iOS? It is an easy and influential pattern in which one object in a program works on behalf of or in coordination with, another object. The delegating object keeps a reference to the other object and at the suitable time sends a message to it.
Delegates are a use of the language feature of protocols. The delegation design pattern is a way of designing your code to use protocols where necessary. In the Cocoa frameworks, the delegate design pattern is used to specify an instance of a class which conforms to a particular protocol.
When in doubt, check the docs!
Basically, delegation is a way of allowing objects to interact with each other without creating strong interdependencies between them, since this makes the design of your application less flexible. Instead of objects controlling one another, they can have a delegate which they send (or delegate) messages to, and the delegate does whatever they do, in order to respond and act to this message, and then usually return something back to the other object.
Delegation is also a better alternative to subclassing. Instead of you having to create your own custom classes to slightly alter the way that other objects behave, or pass them data, delegation allows objects to send messages to their delegates to do work for them without the overhead of creating subclasses to make minor changes to other objects.
Of course, the main disadvantage of delegation is that the delegate methods available are dependent on what the Apple engineers foresee as being useful and what common implementations they expect people to need, which imposes a restriction on what you can achieve. Although, as Quinn Taylor pointed out, this is specific to the Cocoa frameworks and so doesn't apply in all situations.
If delegation is an option over subclassing, then take it, because it's a much cleaner way to manage your code and interactions between objects.
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