title: Where should I declare an array containing 500 objects?
body: <p>I'm working on a project that will contain an array of about 500 different creatures. Each creature has 6 different attributes such as name, age, speed, etc.</p>
  
  <p>I realize I will be spending a lot of time writing out each property for each creature, but I'm not sure if there is a more appropriate (and efficient) place for so much information. At first, I began writing some samples of the array in the <code>viewDidLoad</code> method, but I thought it might be more organized if I declare the array by itself inside a separate header file. Is that possible? </p>
  
  <pre><code>creatureList = [NSMutableArray arrayWithCapacity:25];
  
  Creature *creature = [[Creature alloc] init];
  creature.name = @"Edward";
  creature.age = 24;
  creature.gender = @"Male";
  creature.attack = 75;
  creature.defense = 50;
  creature.speed = 90;
  
  creature = [[CreatureObject alloc] init];
  creature.name = @"Bruno";
  creature.age = 39;
  creature.gender = @"Male";
  creature.attack = 60;
  creature.defense = 100;
  creature.speed = 75;
  [creatureList addObject:creature];
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>... and so forth. I've limited the array to 25 creatures right now until I find out where and how this information should be stored.</p>