The Returned Object

Because an init... method might return an object other than the newly allocated receiver, or even return nil, it's important that programs use the value returned by the initialization method, not just that returned by alloc or allocWithZone.

dangerous:
id anObject = [SomeClass alloc];
[anObject init];
[anObject someOtherMessage];
fine:
id anObject = [[SomeClass alloc] init];
[anObject someOtherMessage];
better:
id anObject = [[SomeClass alloc] init];
if ( anObject )
[anObject someOtherMessage];
else
...