Code from http://code-ninja.org/blog/2012/09/26/querying-data-core-data-vs-entity-framework/ done in a more compact, modern style.

CoreDataLessVerbose.m

NSFetchRequest* fetchRequest = [NSFetchRequest fetchRequestWithEntityName:@"Widget"];
fetchRequest.predicate = [NSPredicate predicateWithFormat:@"type == %@", someType];
fetchRequest.sortDescriptors = @[[NSSortDescriptor sortDescriptorWithKey:@"createddate" ascending:YES]];
fetchRequest.fetchLimit = 5;

NSError* error;
NSArray* widgets = [self.managedObjectContext executeFetchRequest:fetchRequest error:&error];