[fpc-devel] Re: enumerators

[Graeme Geldenhuys]

On 13 November 2010 23:32, Sven Barth  wrote:
> On 13.11.2010 20:56, Hans-Peter Diettrich wrote:
>>
>> In general, what's the benefit of using enumerators? IMO a for loop
>> executes faster on (linear) string and array types, where enumerator
>> calls occur in for-in (see also my note on the UTF-8 string example).
>
> I'd say they simplify the code. They might not make the code faster (or even
> make it slower), but they make it easier to read/understand.


I never saw the first post, but I'll reply from here..

If you use full-blown Iterator classes (instead of just for-in style)
you get a lot more too:

 * full control over iteration
   - move forward
   - move back
   - reset iteration
   - peek forward/back
   - skip, etc...
 * you can extent it with regular expressions to only iterate what is
applicable, and what
   matches the regex.
 * you completely hide the container implementation (TList,
TObjectList, TFPList, etc)
   and simply supply the developer with a consistent iteration
interface. So even if the
   container implementation changes, the higher level iteration code will not.


I have implemented such Iterator classes for all the most used
container classes in the RTL, and they work a treat!


-- 
Regards,
  - Graeme -


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