NSObject - description method

I believe that all Java Developers, using debugger from time to time, are appreciating toString method in Object class :) - probably the same feelings share all Objective-C Developers who know NSObject's description method.

In short, this method returns a string that represents the content of the receiving class, by default it is something like this:

<Card: 0x4b64c90>

Sounds mysterious for now, but when you override this method in your class (Card in this example), and make it look like this (face and value are properties of Card class):

- (NSString *) description {
    return [NSString stringWithFormat: @"face: %@, value: %d", self.face, self.value];
}

And then, in debugger, select Print / Description on the Card object:

You will see something like that:

The same method is used while you send the messages to the system log, using NSLog function:

NSLog(@"Card: %@", card);

Similar to the debugger Print / Description command, you'll see your object description in console when the NSLog will be reached in code.