What’s the difference between dot syntax and square bracket syntax?

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I’m not sure what kind of distinction you’re trying to make between “message sending” and “method calling”, since they’re two ways of describing the same thing. The dot syntax is just a shortcut for calling getters and setters, that is:

[foo length]
foo.length

are exactly the same, as are:

[foo setLength:5]
foo.length = 5

You should generally only use the dot syntax when you’re using getters and setters; use the square bracket syntax for all of your other method calls.

For your second question: this is how dynamic typing works. Any type declarations you put in your code are hints to the compiler; your Objective-C method calls will always work as long as the objects respond to them.

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