---

Dynamic Loading

An Objective-C program can load and link new classes and categories while it’s running. The new code is incorporated into the program and treated identically to classes and categories loaded at the start.

Dynamic loading can be used to do a lot of different things. For example, the various modules in the System Preferences application are dynamically loaded.

In the Cocoa environment, dynamic loading is commonly used to allow applications to be customized. Others can write modules that your program loads at runtime—much as Interface Builder loads custom palettes and the Mac OS X System Preferences application loads custom preference modules. The loadable modules extend what your application can do. They contribute to it in ways that you permit but could not have anticipated or defined yourself. You provide the framework, but others provide the code.

Although there is a runtime function that performs dynamic loading of Objective-C modules in Mach-O files (objc_loadModules, defined in objc/objc-load.h), Cocoa’s NSBundle class provides a significantly more convenient interface for dynamic loading—one that’s object-oriented and integrated with related services. See the NSBundle class specification in the Foundation framework reference for information on the NSBundle class and its use. See Mac OS X ABI Mach-O File Format Reference for information on Mach-O files.

---