iOS Programming: The Big Nerd Ranch Guide

27Blocks

In this chapter, you will learn about a C and Objective-C language feature called blocks. A block is a set of instructions. It is an object, but it is called like a function. Blocks provide conveniences for a programmer and performance boosts for applications. If you are familiar with other high-level languages, you may know blocks as closures or anonymous functions. This chapter will introduce blocks and their syntax. In the next chapter, you will put blocks to use in your Nerdfeed application.

Blocks and Block Syntax

In the C programming language, we separate code into functions. A function is defined as its own entity...

i​n​t​ ​a​d​d​e​r​(​i​n​t​ ​a​,​ ​i​n​t​ ​b​)​
{​
 ​ ​ ​ ​r​e​t​u​r​n​ ​a​ ​+​ ​b​;​
}​

and can be called anywhere. ...