Root class

A root class inherits from no other class and defines an interface and behavior common to all objects in the hierarchy below it. All objects in that hierarchy ultimately inherit from the root class. A root class is sometimes referred to as a base class.

The root class of all Objective-C classes is NSObject, which is part of the Foundation framework. All objects in a Cocoa or Cocoa Touch application ultimately inherit from NSObject. This class is the primary access point whereby other classes interact with the Objective-C runtime. It also declares the fundamental object interface and implements basic object behavior, including introspection, memory management, and method invocation. Cocoa and Cocoa Touch objects derive the ability to behave as objects in large part from the root class.

The root class NSObject adopts a protocol, also named NSObject, which contributes to its programmatic interface. The protocol specifies the basic programmatic interface required of any root class.