initWithArray:(NSArray *)array copyItems:(BOOL)flag

Question

NSMutableDictionary *dic0 = [[NSMutableDictionary alloc] initWithObjectsAndKeys:@"string0", @"key0", nil];
NSDictionary *dic1 = [[NSDictionary alloc] initWithObjectsAndKeys:@"string1", @"key1", nil];
NSDictionary *dic2 = [[NSDictionary alloc] initWithObjectsAndKeys:@"string2", @"key2", nil];
NSDictionary *dic3 = [[NSDictionary alloc] initWithObjectsAndKeys:@"dic3", @"key3", nil];

NSArray *arrayOri = [[NSArray alloc] initWithObjects:dic0, dic1, dic2, nil];

//here means a deep copy
NSMutableArray *arrayDeepCopy = [[NSMutableArray alloc] initWithArray:arrayOri copyItems:YES];

NSRange range = {0, 2};
NSArray *subArray = [arrayOri subarrayWithRange:range];
[arrayDeepCopy addObject:dic3];

NSLog(@"arrayOri not merge %@", arrayOri);

//merge one object
[dic0 setObject:@"mutableV" forKey:@"mutableKey"];
//dealloc one object
[dic1 dealloc];

NSLog(@"arrayOri %@  ", arrayOri);
NSLog(@"subArray %@  ", subArray);

crash here,because of dic1 dealloced,if deep copy,why the original object has an effect with new object??

NSLog(@"array %@  ", arrayDeepCopy);

what initWithArray:(NSArray *)array copyItems:(BOOL)flag  do after all??

Answer 1

The problem is that dic1 is an immutable object. Thus is does not make sense to copy it in memory, and therefore arrayDeepCopy holds a pointer to the original dic1 object. When you deallocate it, it is gone from all arrays that store it.
If you want to have a true deep copy, you have to instantiate a NSMutableDictionary.