--- /dev/null Thu Jan 01 00:00:00 1970 +0000 +++ b/docs/Writerside/topics/iterator.h.md Thu Jan 23 01:33:36 2025 +0100 @@ -0,0 +1,21 @@ +# iterator.h + +In UCX 3 a new feature has been introduced to write own iterators, that work with the `cx_foreach` macro. +In previous UCX releases there were different hard-coded foreach macros for lists and maps that were not customizable. +Now, creating an iterator is as simple as creating a `CxIterator` struct and setting the fields in a meaningful way. + +You do not always need all fields in the iterator structure, depending on your use case. +Sometimes you only need the `index` (for example when iterating over simple lists), and other times you will need the +`slot` and `kv_data` fields (for example when iterating over maps). + +If the predefined fields are insufficient for your use case, you can alternatively create your own iterator structure +and place the `CX_ITERATOR_BASE` macro as first member of that structure. + +Usually an iterator is not mutating the collection it is iterating over. +In some programming languages it is even disallowed to change the collection while iterating with foreach. +But sometimes it is desirable to remove an element from the collection while iterating over it. +For this purpose, most collections allow the creation of a _mutating_ iterator. +The only differences are, that the `mutating` flag is `true` and the `src_handle` is not const. +On mutating iterators it is allowed to call the `cxFlagForRemoval()` function, which instructs the iterator to remove +the current element from the collection on the next call to `cxIteratorNext()` and clear the flag afterward. +If you are implementing your own iterator, it is up to you to implement this behavior.