oop - Private classes in Objective C -

i pattern nested private class in objective c.

requirements are:

• class not visible/accessible other classes.
• class can execute methods (i.e., not c struct)
• containing class members visible/accessible nested class

considering comments, simplifying requirements:

• inner class may accessible other classes, not visible (similar using category hide private methods).
• inner class not have nested

is still not possible?

objective-c has no notion of private classes or private instance variables in formal declarative fashion.

instead, visibility in objective-c entirely controlled declare something. if in header file, can imported else. if declared in implementation file, cannot (reasonably) imported and, therefore, private compilation unit.

and "it", mean pretty can declared; class, global, etc...

i.e. if stick @interface/@implementation pair class in .m file, class private compilation unit. of course, without namespaces, make sure class uniquely named.

---

consider this:

foo.h:

@interface foo: nsobject ... public interface @end 

foo.m:

@interface __foosupportclass: nsobject ... interface here ... @end  @implementation __foosupportclass @end  @interface foo() @property(retain) __foosupportclass *__foosupport; @end  @implementation foo @synthesize __foosupport = foosupport__; ... etc ... @end 

that gives private-by-visibility support class available in implementation instance variable , setter/getter methods on class not visible outside compilation unit either.

(note objective-c has "instance variables", not "member variables". similar, you'll better off using vocabulary of language.)