Asynchronous methods in NSOperation

Below is a full example. In your subclass, after your async method completes, call [self completeOperation] to transition to the finished state.

@interface AsynchronousOperation()
// 'executing' and 'finished' exist in NSOperation, but are readonly
@property (atomic, assign) BOOL _executing;
@property (atomic, assign) BOOL _finished;
@end

@implementation AsynchronousOperation

- (void) start;
{
    if ([self isCancelled])
    {
        // Move the operation to the finished state if it is canceled.
        [self willChangeValueForKey:@"isFinished"];
        self._finished = YES;
        [self didChangeValueForKey:@"isFinished"];
        return;
    }

    // If the operation is not canceled, begin executing the task.
    [self willChangeValueForKey:@"isExecuting"];
    [NSThread detachNewThreadSelector:@selector(main) toTarget:self withObject:nil];
    self._executing = YES;
    [self didChangeValueForKey:@"isExecuting"];

}

- (void) main;
{
    if ([self isCancelled]) {
        return;
    }

}

- (BOOL) isAsynchronous;
{
    return YES;
}

- (BOOL)isExecuting {
    return self._executing;
}

- (BOOL)isFinished {
    return self._finished;
}

- (void)completeOperation {
    [self willChangeValueForKey:@"isFinished"];
    [self willChangeValueForKey:@"isExecuting"];

    self._executing = NO;
    self._finished = YES;

    [self didChangeValueForKey:@"isExecuting"];
    [self didChangeValueForKey:@"isFinished"];
}

@end