Loading a file asynchronously to use as the data source for a UITableView.

AsyncFileLoad.m

// Let's not block while loading data from a file
dispatch_async(dispatch_get_global_queue(DISPATCH_QUEUE_PRIORITY_DEFAULT, 0), ^{
    
    NSString *path = [[NSBundle mainBundle] pathForResource:@"word_list" ofType:@"txt"];
    
    NSError *error;
    NSString *contents =
        [NSString stringWithContentsOfFile:path encoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding error:&error];
    
    self.tableData = [contents componentsSeparatedByString:@"\n"];
    
    dispatch_async(dispatch_get_main_queue(), ^{
        // Take care of anything we need to do on the main thread
        if (error) {
            UIAlertView *alert =
                [[UIAlertView alloc] initWithTitle:@"Error loading data"
                                           message:[error localizedDescription]
                                          delegate:nil
                                 cancelButtonTitle:@"Okay"
                                 otherButtonTitles:nil];
            [alert show];
        }
        [[self tableView] reloadData];
    });
});