From: Bulat Ziganshin <bulatz@...>
Date: 2003-01-24T20:32:57+09:00
Subject: Re: Definition: iterator

Hello Paul,

Thursday, January 23, 2003, 2:27:04 AM, you wrote:
>> Would it be correct to say that an iterator is a method that lets you
>> access items one at a time? (this includes both class and instance 
>> methods).

PB> That would be true for normal Ruby iterators, but not all iterators.
PB> C++ iterators, for example, are objects rather than methods.  The object
PB> can be used to iterate by writing "++it" to go to the next element or
PB> "*it" to retrieve the current element.  There are a number of libraries
PB> available for iterating similarly in Ruby.

technically speaking, iterator is a way to access elements of collection
without knowing details of its implementation

-- 
Best regards,
 Bulat                            mailto:bulatz@integ.ru