I am looking for a document that demystifies the appropriate or at least intended time to initialize UI element / controller content. I can’t find for example a specific call at a good time to cause a NSControl subclass to load an image or other similar information it might need. Between -init, -awakeFromNib, -[NSViewController viewDidLoad], (anything else?) there are a lot of choices and these either aren’t called, are too early to interface with other items in the view or make for code mess when there are a lot of controls in the view — it would better satisfy my sense of encapsulation if the objects were a bit more self contained which is te source of mental friction here. I also would benefit from a description of why we have views and view controllers and not just views. Is it a reference cycle issue with delegates? Does it follow some academic paper I might read?
Is there a document hiding around somewhere detailing this stuff? I feel like this a 23 year old question. Maybe 30. Perhaps the big picture items have been lost from the documentation over the years.