In Swift, do class pointers always point to the parent?

Question

let x = User()?

y = x 

z = y

Reference count for "x" should be 2, is that right?

y =  nil

Does

z

become nil, or does it continue to be a

User

?

Answer 1

Reference count for "x" should be 2, is that right?

Yes, you are passing around references, and you did that twice.

Does z become nil, or does it continue to be User?

No, z does not become nil, since z holds a reference to the User. When y is set to nil, the reference count drops to 1, so it stays alive.

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