Swift ViewController without Storyboard / XIB.

ACViewController.swift

class ACViewController: UIViewController {
    
    let frame: CGRect
    let childViewController: UIViewController
    var imageView: UIImageView?
    
    // MARK: Init
    
    init(frame: CGRect) {
        self.frame = frame
        childViewController = UIViewController()
        
        super.init(nibName: nil, bundle: nil)
        
        title = "My Title"
    }
    
    required init?(coder aDecoder: NSCoder) {
        fatalError("init(coder:) has not been implemented")
    }
    
    // MARK: Lifecycle
    
    override func viewDidLoad() {
        super.viewDidLoad()
        
        view.frame = frame
        view.backgroundColor = UIColor.redColor()
        
        let imageView = UIImageView()
        imageView.frame = CGRectMake(20, 20, 100, 100)
        imageView.image = UIImage(named: "MemoryConsumingImage")
        view.addSubview(imageView)
        self.imageView = imageView
        
        addChildViewController(childViewController)
        view.addSubview(childViewController.view)
        childViewController.didMoveToParentViewController(self)
    }
    
    // MARK: Memory Warnings
    
    override func didReceiveMemoryWarning() {
        super.didReceiveMemoryWarning()
        
        if isViewLoaded() && view.window == nil {
            self.view = nil
        }
        
        if (!self.isViewLoaded()) {
            // Release subviews
            self.imageView = nil
        }
    }
    
}