Mastering Swift 2 Programming (Video 36)

This video tutorial introduces Grand Central Dispatch (GCD) and compares it with NSOperation Q. It explains the efficiency of GCD as a low-level API integrated into the Apple operating system, highlighting its minimal code requirements and automatic management of serial queues. The tutorial discusses why some developers prefer GCD over NSOperation Q, despite the latter's high-level abstraction and features. The video demonstrates replacing NSOperation Q with GCD in a code example, focusing on using dispatch async for task management. Finally, it tests the implementation to ensure UI responsiveness.

Describe the process of replacing NSOperationQueue with GCD in an application.

What is the purpose of the dispatch_async function in GCD?