Message Forwarding
Message forwarding is a programming concept, particularly prominent in object-oriented languages like Objective-C and Swift, where an object can delegate the handling of a message (method call) it doesn't understand to another object. It enables dynamic behavior by allowing objects to forward method invocations to other objects at runtime, facilitating patterns like proxies, decorators, and dynamic method resolution. This mechanism is key for implementing features such as method swizzling, lazy loading, and handling unknown selectors in a flexible way.
Developers should learn message forwarding when working with dynamic languages like Objective-C or Swift to implement advanced patterns like proxy objects, where one object stands in for another to control access or add functionality. It's essential for building flexible architectures, such as in iOS/macOS development for handling unimplemented methods dynamically, enabling features like method interception or creating adaptable components that can respond to unknown messages at runtime.