> the main thing. > > As far as I understand the proposal the main point for this construct is > the use in iterable container classes (implementing a certain > interface). And there it can show it's advantages (or what I think that > are advantages): > > Instead of a very longish (syntax made up just now): > > var > x : IIterable; > someCollection : TSomeCollection; > elem : TSomeElement; > > [...] > x := (someCollection as IIterable).initIterator(); > while (x.hasNextElement()) do begin > elem := (x.nextElement() as TSomeElement).next(); > > << do something with elem >> > end; > x.doneIterator(); > [...] > > you could write: > > x : TSomeElement; > someCollection : TSomeCollection; > > [...] > foreach elem in someCollection do begin > << do something with elem >> > end; > [...]
True, BUT... hmm, I actually have 3 BUTS BUT 1: some form shorter syntax can be thought up for _each_ _and_ _every_ construct. That is the danger of syntactic sugar, it always looks tempting as a shorthand. However if you indulge in it, you get Perl. If there is a valid normal construct, and that is not extremely larger, than you don't need it. BUT 2: The whole purpose of iterators is that you can have multiple orders on the same object, and get a different iterator to get a different order. The syntax does not allow this. Typical ss. BUT 3: I myself currently use iterators at work (modeled after decal, except without the variant-interface stuff, because of performance) and your example looks overly verbose; var iter:dlightmapiterator; iter:=lightmapstartiter(collection); while lightmapiterateover(iter) do << do something with getobject(iter)>> // no finalisation of iter necessary. Is this so bad ? I don't see the problem > which is imo far easier to read. (Please don't mind the word "foreach", > I think it's only because it's already used in other languages for that > purposes). IMHO it sucks. Write a code template for your IDE if you really want to spare out those 10 key strokes. _______________________________________________ fpc-pascal maillist - fpc-pascal@lists.freepascal.org http://lists.freepascal.org/mailman/listinfo/fpc-pascal
