Introduction to Binary Data Programming Guide for Cocoa

Binary data can be wrapped inside of Foundation and Core Foundation data objects which provides object-oriented behaviors for manipulating the data. Because data objects are bridged objects, you can use the Foundation and Core Foundation data objects interchangeably. Data objects can manage the allocation and deallocation of byte buffers automatically. Among other things, data objects can be stored in collections, written to property lists, saved to files, and transmitted over communication ports.

Organization of This Document

The following article explains how data objects work:

• Data Objects describes how data objects are used as wrappers for byte buffers.

The following articles cover common tasks:

• Working With Binary Data explains how to create and use binary data objects.

• Working With Mutable Binary Data explains how to modify the bytes in mutable binary data objects.