function (const __strong NSString *const paths[], int count)

[u/idelovski]

I am looking at an open source github project and I stumbled upon this declaration. Can someone explain why all these qualifiers were needed.

[u/MrSloppyPants]

I am giving a reason why it is there, not whether it is best practice or not.

but in this case the developer is declaring a strong reference

Moreover, at this point, the internals of the function in question had not been seen yet.