Eschatology

What’s wrong with this code?

– (void)registerForNotificationsFromTask:(NSTask *)task ( {
[[NSNotificationCenter defaultCenter]
addObserver:self
selector:@selector(taskDidTerminateNotification:)
name:@”NSTaskDidTerminateNotification”
object:task];
}

If you didn’t notice anything wrong, look again.

What’s bad about this is that it’s passing a **string literal** instead of a **global variable** for the notification name. The code should really look like this:

– (void)registerForNotificationsFromTask:(NSTask *)task ( {
[[NSNotificationCenter defaultCenter]
addObserver:self
selector:@selector(taskDidTerminateNotification:)
name:NSTaskDidTerminateNotification
object:task];
}

Isn’t that better? (Among other things, Xcode will offer to complete the `NSTaskDidTerminateNotification` global variable for you — unlike the contents of a string literal.)

This is a bug that often results from copying & pasting from documentation into code. “I need this notification, it needs to be a string, so I’ll just put `@””` around it.” The *type* of a notification name is, in fact, `NSString` but you don’t have to pass a *string literal* for that. Instead, pass the global variable that exists for each notification name and you’re guaranteed that the right thing will happen.

If you’re creating and using your own notifications, be sure to follow the Cocoa pattern and create your own global variables containing the notification name. Otherwise you’re at the mercy of typos within string literals.

**Update:** Sanjay Samani helpfully pointed out that by *constant string* I meant *string literal*. Thanks, Sanjay! I’ve updated my post with this correction. (Not sure where my memory was…)