AppDelegate.swift

//
//  AppDelegate.swift
//  TypedTableViewControllers
//
//  Created by Chris Eidhof on 23/03/15.
//  Copyright (c) 2015 Unsigned Integer. All rights reserved.
//

import UIKit

class Box<T> {
    let unbox: T
    init(_ value: T) { self.unbox = value }
}


class MyTableViewController: UITableViewController {
    var items: [Any] = []
    var configureCell: (UITableViewCell, Any) -> () = { _ in }
    let identifier = "Identifier"
    
    override func viewDidLoad() {
        tableView.registerClass(UITableViewCell.self, forCellReuseIdentifier: identifier)
    }
    
    override func tableView(tableView: UITableView, numberOfRowsInSection section: Int) -> Int {
        return items.count
    }
    
    override func tableView(tableView: UITableView, cellForRowAtIndexPath indexPath: NSIndexPath) -> UITableViewCell {
        let cell: UITableViewCell = tableView.dequeueReusableCellWithIdentifier(identifier) as! UITableViewCell
        configureCell(cell, items[indexPath.row])
        return cell
    }
}

func exampleTableViewController<A>(items: [A], configure: (UITableViewCell, A) -> ()) -> UITableViewController {
    var vc = MyTableViewController(style: UITableViewStyle.Plain)
    vc.items = items.map { Box($0) }
    vc.configureCell = { cell, obj in
        if let value = obj as? Box<A> {
            configure(cell, value.unbox)
        }
    }
    return vc
}

@UIApplicationMain
class AppDelegate: UIResponder, UIApplicationDelegate {

    var window: UIWindow?


    func application(application: UIApplication, didFinishLaunchingWithOptions launchOptions: [NSObject: AnyObject]?) -> Bool {
        
        window = UIWindow(frame: UIScreen.mainScreen().bounds)
        window?.rootViewController = exampleTableViewController([1,2,3]) { cell, num in
            cell.textLabel?.text = "Cell \(num)"
        }
        window?.makeKeyAndVisible()
        return true
    }

}

I wasn't able to use this controller with NIB. Here is updated version VC+tableView: https://gist.github.com/cfr/3326ef5d6a015d12fe46