Open Radar

 
Summary:
Swift has [`defer`](https://andybargh.com/swift-defer-statement/) to schedule blocks of work to clean up when you leave the current scope. This is great for cleanup when you can exit/throw in multiple places and both simplifies code and helps to reduce leaks. See https://pspdfkit.com/blog/2017/even-swiftier-objective-c/

Steps to Reproduce:
Try to use @defer.

Expected Results:
Block in @defer should be called when the scope exits

Actual Results:
Compiler error. Feature isn’t there ;)

Version:
Xcode 8.3.2

Notes:
CGImageSourceRef imageSource = CGImageSourceCreateWithURL((CFURLRef)fileURL, NULL);
if (!imageSource) {
    return NO;
}
 
CGImageRef image = CGImageSourceCreateThumbnailAtIndex(imageSource, 0, NULL);
if (!image) {
    return NO;
}
 
thumbnail = [UIImage imageWithCGImage:image scale:scale orientation:UIImageOrientationUp];
CFRelease(imageSource);
CFRelease(image);
return YES;
 
Notice the leak? If creating the image fails, we leak imageSource as we exit early. Of course that’s fixable we special-handle the first exit condition, but that’s hard and easy to get wrong. Better: Use defer to declare what needs to happen when things go out of scope.

CGImageSourceRef imageSource = CGImageSourceCreateWithURL((CFURLRef)fileURL, NULL);
if (!imageSource) {
    return NO;
}
pspdf_defer { CFRelease(imageSource); }

But I don’t think I need to convince anyone how useful defer is, as it’s part of Swift.
See https://pspdfkit.com/blog/2017/even-swiftier-objective-c/