Working With Design Patterns: Iterator

The enhanced-for loop takes advantage of the ability to bind a class to parameterized types, eliminating the need for any casting in the client solution. Even better, programmers can provide enhanced-for loop support in their classes by having them implement the Iterable interface:

class Menu implements Iterable<String> {
   private List<String> items = new ArrayList<String>();

   public void add(String item) {
      items.add(item);
   }

   @Override
   public Iterator<String> iterator() {
      return items.iterator();
   }
}

By having Menu implement Iterable, clients can code simple for-each loops to traverse all the menu items:

Menu menu = new Menu();
menu.add("Beef Stroganoff");
menu.add("Filet Mignon");
menu.add("Rice with Tofu");

for (String item: menu) {
   // ...
}

The enhanced-for loop syntax is about as concise as Java could allow, at least until the possible introduction of closures in Java 7.

Exploring Enhanced-For

I appreciate the enhanced-for loop: Anything that makes the code more concise and expressive at the same time is good. But, it doesn't quite cover everything. If I want to iterate through the numbers 0 through 9, I'm still stuck with the classic C-style for the loop idiom:

for (int i = 0; i < 9; i++)
   ...

But, what if I considered representing the range as a new abstraction:

Sequence s = new Sequence(0, 9);

At that point, I could have the Sequence class implement Iterable<Integer>, thus supporting use of the enhanced-for loop:

for (int i: new Sequence(0, 9))
   ...

With the addition of auto-unboxing, this makes for a very concise client interface. Listing 1 shows the complete implementation for a Sequence class:

Listing 1: The Sequence class

import java.util.Iterator;

public class Sequence implements Iterable<Integer> {
   private int start;
   private int stop;
   private int increment = 1;

   public Sequence(int start, int stop) {
      this.start = start;
      this.stop = stop;
   }

   public Sequence(int start, int stop, int increment) {
      this(start, stop);
      this.increment = increment;
   }

   public Iterator<Integer> iterator() {
      return new SequenceIterator();
   }

   private class SequenceIterator implements Iterator<Integer> {
      private int count = start;
      public boolean hasNext() {
         return count <= stop;
      }

      public Integer next() {
         int result = count;
         count += increment;
         return result;
      }

      public void remove() {
         throw new UnsupportedOperationException();
      }
   }
}

The Sequence class also provides the ability to skip elements. A set of tests demonstrating use of the Sequence class appears in Listing 2.

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This article was originally published on July 9, 2008