Generators exist in C++, just under another name: Input Iterators. For example, reading from std::cin
is similar to having a generator of char
.
You simply need to understand what a generator does:
- there is a blob of data: the local variables define a state
- there is an init method
- there is a “next” method
- there is a way to signal termination
In your trivial example, it’s easy enough. Conceptually:
struct State { unsigned i, j; };
State make();
void next(State&);
bool isDone(State const&);
Of course, we wrap this as a proper class:
class PairSequence:
// (implicit aliases)
public std::iterator<
std::input_iterator_tag,
std::pair<unsigned, unsigned>
>
{
// C++03
typedef void (PairSequence::*BoolLike)();
void non_comparable();
public:
// C++11 (explicit aliases)
using iterator_category = std::input_iterator_tag;
using value_type = std::pair<unsigned, unsigned>;
using reference = value_type const&;
using pointer = value_type const*;
using difference_type = ptrdiff_t;
// C++03 (explicit aliases)
typedef std::input_iterator_tag iterator_category;
typedef std::pair<unsigned, unsigned> value_type;
typedef value_type const& reference;
typedef value_type const* pointer;
typedef ptrdiff_t difference_type;
PairSequence(): done(false) {}
// C++11
explicit operator bool() const { return !done; }
// C++03
// Safe Bool idiom
operator BoolLike() const {
return done ? 0 : &PairSequence::non_comparable;
}
reference operator*() const { return ij; }
pointer operator->() const { return &ij; }
PairSequence& operator++() {
static unsigned const Max = std::numeric_limts<unsigned>::max();
assert(!done);
if (ij.second != Max) { ++ij.second; return *this; }
if (ij.first != Max) { ij.second = 0; ++ij.first; return *this; }
done = true;
return *this;
}
PairSequence operator++(int) {
PairSequence const tmp(*this);
++*this;
return tmp;
}
private:
bool done;
value_type ij;
};
So hum yeah… might be that C++ is a tad more verbose 🙂