>
> For me,
>
> foreach (range($low, $high) as $i)
>
> is easier to understand than
>
> for ($i = 0; $i <= $high; $i++)
>
> By easier to understand I do not only mean that the beginning of the loop
> marked by the foreach/range construct is easier to read. While reading the
> body of the loop I can be sure that $i is not unexpectedly modified, for
> instance.
>
> Be that as it may, what I would like to propose should be useful for use
> cases other than the one (see above) that triggered me thinking about this.
>
> range() returns an array that contains all elements requested. Depending
> on the amount of elements, this might not be optimal.
>
> One of the most common usages of generators that I have seen is an
> alternative, userland implementation of the range() function:
>
> function xrange($start, $end, $step = 1) {
> for ($i = $start; $i <= $end; $i += $step) {
> yield $i;
> }
> }
>
> This makes me wonder: would there be a benefit in changing the
> implementation of range() to return a generator instead of an array? And if
> so, would this constitute a break in backward compatibility?
Yes, that's a BC break. Instead of changing it, there could be a new
function. But as it can be simply built in userland, I don't see much
reason to have it in core.
Regards, Niklas
