Unity uses transform.GetChild(childNum) as opposed to gameObject.GetChild(childNum).
I understand that every GameObject in Unity has a Transform component and the function returns the Transform of the child, but wouldn't it be more logical to use the GameObject class to get a child as it refers to the actual GameObject in the scene or project and not just a component? Why is the Transform used for finding hierarchical information?
Why is the Transform used for finding hierarchical information?
Because the transforms serve as (and are) the anchors between children and parent, both figuratively and literally.
It appears a little strange, but that is just the way it is. The transforms maintain the position and size, and the transformations are merged in sequence to get the final location, rotation, skew and scale of an item. So it appears that they are what keep the connection for efficient traversal of the engine for rendering and for updating rotation and position in the children.
Thus that is just the way it is defined in Unity. To get from a gameObject to the first child, you need to go (this).transform.getChild(0).gameObject .
OBJ_A --> transform
|
V
gameObject <-- transform.getChild()
Is just a matter of definition. Will not change in the future (unless looking at DOTS).
This is probably a design desicion. Mostly following the programmer paradigm "single responsibility".
They outsourced the logic to another class because in the designers eye it has nothing to do with the main goal of the class gameobject.
