Julia Language Iterables New iterable type
Example
In Julia, when looping through an iterable object I is done with the for syntax:
for i = I # or "for i in I"
# body
end
Behind the scenes, this is translated to:
state = start(I)
while !done(I, state)
(i, state) = next(I, state)
# body
end
Therefore, if you want I to be an iterable, you need to define start, next and done methods for its type. Suppose you define a type Foo containing an array as one of the fields:
type Foo
bar::Array{Int,1}
end
We instantiate a Foo object by doing:
julia> I = Foo([1,2,3])
Foo([1,2,3])
julia> I.bar
3-element Array{Int64,1}:
1
2
3
If we want to iterate through Foo, with each element bar being returned by each iteration, we define the methods:
import Base: start, next, done
start(I::Foo) = 1
next(I::Foo, state) = (I.bar[state], state+1)
function done(I::Foo, state)
if state == length(I.bar)
return true
end
return false
end
Note that since these functions belong to the Base module, we must first import their names before adding new methods to them.
After the methods are defined, Foo is compatible with the iterator interface:
julia> for i in I
println(i)
end
1
2
3
