You also need to understand "zero values" to understand what a freshly created object looks like (all of its instance variables are initialized to zero). So I don't think it would make Objective-C any easier to learn if messaging to nil would throw an exception.
Personally I find that the nil behavior provides a useful base guideline for API design. When defining a method signature in Obj-C, you have to ask yourself if it's clear to the user of the method what happens when the method (inevitably) gets sent to nil. In that way, you have to think about the circumstances of the API's actual use, rather than just the ideal case.
Personally I find that the nil behavior provides a useful base guideline for API design. When defining a method signature in Obj-C, you have to ask yourself if it's clear to the user of the method what happens when the method (inevitably) gets sent to nil. In that way, you have to think about the circumstances of the API's actual use, rather than just the ideal case.