对象包括三部分，实例对象，类和元类。

OC对象本质.png

图中左上方备注：isa指向为虚线、superclass指向为实线，Root class元类的superclass指向Root class的class。

instance对象的isa指向class对象
class对象的isa指向meta-class对象
meta-class对象的isa指向基类NSObject的meta-class对象
基类NSObject的meta-class的superclass指向NSObject对象，isa指针指向自己

bool isRootClass() {
        return superclass == nil;
    }
    bool isRootMetaclass() {
        return ISA() == (Class)this;
    }

实例对象

/// An opaque type that represents an Objective-C class.
typedef struct objc_class *Class;

/// Represents an instance of a class.
struct objc_object {
    Class _Nonnull isa  OBJC_ISA_AVAILABILITY;
};

/// A pointer to an instance of a class.
typedef struct objc_object *id;

类对象

objc_class 类结构定义：

struct objc_class : objc_object {
    // Class ISA;
    Class superclass;
    cache_t cache;             // formerly cache pointer and vtable
    class_data_bits_t bits;    // class_rw_t * plus custom rr/alloc flags

    class_rw_t *data() { 
        return bits.data();
    }
    void setData(class_rw_t *newData) {
        bits.setData(newData);
    }

    void setInfo(uint32_t set) {
        assert(isFuture()  ||  isRealized());
        data()->setFlags(set);
    }

    void clearInfo(uint32_t clear) {
        assert(isFuture()  ||  isRealized());
        data()->clearFlags(clear);
    }
}

class和metaclass在查找方法的过程，每次都会先通过cache进行查找，cache_t定义如下：

struct cache_t {
    struct bucket_t *_buckets;
    mask_t _mask;
    mask_t _occupied;

public:
    struct bucket_t *buckets();
    mask_t mask();
    mask_t occupied();
    void incrementOccupied();
    void setBucketsAndMask(struct bucket_t *newBuckets, mask_t newMask);
    void initializeToEmpty();

    mask_t capacity();
    bool isConstantEmptyCache();
    bool canBeFreed();

    static size_t bytesForCapacity(uint32_t cap);
    static struct bucket_t * endMarker(struct bucket_t *b, uint32_t cap);

    void expand();
    void reallocate(mask_t oldCapacity, mask_t newCapacity);
    struct bucket_t * find(cache_key_t key, id receiver);

    static void bad_cache(id receiver, SEL sel, Class isa) __attribute__((noreturn));
};

cache_t中的_buckets保存方法的缓存IMP实现和key值，bucket_t定义如下：

struct bucket_t {
private:
    // IMP-first is better for arm64e ptrauth and no worse for arm64.
    // SEL-first is better for armv7* and i386 and x86_64.
#if __arm64__
    MethodCacheIMP _imp;
    cache_key_t _key;
#else
    cache_key_t _key;
    MethodCacheIMP _imp;
#endif

public:
    inline cache_key_t key() const { return _key; }
    inline IMP imp() const { return (IMP)_imp; }
    inline void setKey(cache_key_t newKey) { _key = newKey; }
    inline void setImp(IMP newImp) { _imp = newImp; }

    void set(cache_key_t newKey, IMP newImp);
};

class_data_bits_t 是Class的核心，其本质是一个可以被Mask的指针类型。根据不同的Mask，可以取出不同的class_rw_t。

struct class_data_bits_t {

public:

    class_rw_t* data() {
        return (class_rw_t *)(bits & FAST_DATA_MASK);
    }
    void setData(class_rw_t *newData)
    {
        assert(!data()  ||  (newData->flags & (RW_REALIZING | RW_FUTURE)));
        // Set during realization or construction only. No locking needed.
        // Use a store-release fence because there may be concurrent
        // readers of data and data's contents.
        uintptr_t newBits = (bits & ~FAST_DATA_MASK) | (uintptr_t)newData;
        atomic_thread_fence(memory_order_release);
        bits = newBits;
    }

class_rw_t 中保存着方法，协议和属性：

struct class_rw_t {
    // Be warned that Symbolication knows the layout of this structure.
    uint32_t flags;
    uint32_t version;

    const class_ro_t *ro;

    method_array_t methods;
    property_array_t properties;
    protocol_array_t protocols;

    Class firstSubclass;
    Class nextSiblingClass;

    char *demangledName;

#if SUPPORT_INDEXED_ISA
    uint32_t index;
#endif

    void setFlags(uint32_t set) 
    {
        OSAtomicOr32Barrier(set, &flags);
    }

    void clearFlags(uint32_t clear) 
    {
        OSAtomicXor32Barrier(clear, &flags);
    }

    // set and clear must not overlap
    void changeFlags(uint32_t set, uint32_t clear) 
    {
        assert((set & clear) == 0);

        uint32_t oldf, newf;
        do {
            oldf = flags;
            newf = (oldf | set) & ~clear;
        } while (!OSAtomicCompareAndSwap32Barrier(oldf, newf, (volatile int32_t *)&flags));
    }
};

class_ro_t类的原始核心：

struct class_ro_t {
    uint32_t flags;
    uint32_t instanceStart;
    uint32_t instanceSize;
#ifdef __LP64__
    uint32_t reserved;
#endif

    const uint8_t * ivarLayout;
    
    const char * name;
    method_list_t * baseMethodList;
    protocol_list_t * baseProtocols;
    const ivar_list_t * ivars;

    const uint8_t * weakIvarLayout;
    property_list_t *baseProperties;

    method_list_t *baseMethods() const {
        return baseMethodList;
    }
};

元类

我们发现 Class 本身也有一个 isa 指针，指向的是它的 MetaClass。

当我们对一个实例发送消息时（-开头的方法），会在该 instance 对应的类的 methodLists 里查找。
当我们对一个类发送消息时（+开头的方法），会在该类的 MetaClass 的 methodLists 里查找。

参考资料:
juejin.cn/post/684490…

Objective-C对象本质

实例对象

类对象

元类