Hash Table Code Explanation - ios

Question

I found this implementation of a hash table written in objective-c. I can follow almost all of it, but am struggling to understand how exactly the -(id) init function works. This is the method in the HashTable.m file with 3 lines (I repasted it below right after the question). Could someone explain what exactly it is doing? I included some of the other relevant code although for the most part I think I can follow the rest. Despite that I'm unclear as to the specifics of the init method. Thanks
-(id)init
{
self =[super init];
self.othercontainer = [[NSMutableArray alloc]init];
return self;
}
HashTable.h
#import <Foundation/Foundation.h>
#interface HashTable : NSObject
#property(nonatomic) NSMutableArray* othercontainer;
-(id)objectForKey:(NSString*)name;
-(void)setObject:(id)object forKey:(NSString*)name;
-(id)init;
#end
HashTable.m
#import "HashTable.h"
#import "Person.h"
#implementation HashTable
-(id)init
{
self =[super init];
self.othercontainer = [[NSMutableArray alloc]init];
return self;
}
-(id)objectForKey:(NSString*)name
{
Person* tempPerson = nil;
for (id item in self.othercontainer)
{
NSString* tempName = [((Person*)item) name];
if ([tempName isEqualToString:name])
{
tempPerson = item;
break;
}
}
return tempPerson;
}
-(void)setObject:(id)object forKey:(NSString*)name
{
[self.othercontainer addObject:object];
}
#end
Part of ViewController.m
NSData *data;
NSFileHandle *fh;
NSString *inBoundFile = #"/Users/user/Desktop/names.txt";
NSString *fileString;
fh = [NSFileHandle fileHandleForReadingAtPath:inBoundFile];
data = [fh readDataToEndOfFile];
fileString = [[NSString alloc]initWithData:data encoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding];
NSArray *PersonArray = [fileString componentsSeparatedByString:#"\n"];
self.container = [[HashTable alloc]init];
for (int x= 0; PersonArray.count > x ;x++) {
NSArray* tempNameandAddress = [PersonArray[x] componentsSeparatedByString:#" "];
Person *personA = [[Person alloc]init]; //could be other ways of defining an instance of an object
personA.name = tempNameandAddress[0];
personA.address = tempNameandAddress[1];
if ([self.container objectForKey:personA.name] == nil)
[self.container setObject:personA forKey:personA.name];
else
NSLog(#"%# already exists \n",personA.name);
}

Answer 1

This is simply an almost right common init.
self is set to the object returned by the superclass init.
Then they miss one proper step.
The next step should be if (self) { ...additional setup... }
Basically only creating ivars/properties if self as returned from super init is not nil.
If self is nil at that point you would normally just bypass additional code and go straight to return self. (Returning nil)
The next line is just creating the NSMutableArray ivar for the othercontainer property.
This is also not quite right.
In init, this is when you should use the synthesized ivar directly.
_othercontainer = [[NSMutableArray alloc] init];
Nothing special here.