title: NSInteger vs 64-bit architecture on iOS
body: <p>So, I'm trying to figure out how much I should care about NSInteger vs int.  I don't have a CS degree, so a lot of these type conversion arguments come across pretty obscure.  As best I can tell, the argument is "use NSInteger instead of int in iOS so that eventually if/when 64-bit iOS comes out, your variables will still be the right size to store a pointer."  Fair enough.  Except I'm storing pointers in my ints approximately never.</p>
  
  <p>Suppose I have an int storing a count of magic beans owed to Jack, and another int storing the number of ways to skin a cat, and I'm passing them between functions and writing them to Core Data and whatever, and then Apple releases 64-bit iOS -- what changes?  Why do I care?</p>
  
  <p>Also, if I do care, why isn't that an argument for using int32_t instead of NSInteger?  It seems like <em>that</em> would be the way to keep things predictable.</p>