Generators

> On Wed, Apr 12, 2017 at 6:51 PM, Levente Uzonyi <[hidden email]> wrote:
>       Wouldn't it be better to make Generator >> #do: not use #atEnd?
>       With the new implementation the following happens:
>
>       | generator |
>       generator := Generator on: [ :g | ].
>       generator atEnd
>       "==> false"
>
>
> The generator has not run, it can not know if it's at the end yet.
>  
>       | generator |
>       generator := Generator on: [ :g | ].
>       generator next; atEnd
>       "==> true"
>
>
> Now the generator has run, so it knows it ended. Unless we solve the Halting Problem we cannot know if the Generator will do another yield or not.

>
> Basically, we need need to call next, and then use atEnd to see if we can use that result or need to ignore it. This is similar to other languages. Here's an example from JavaScript:
>
> function* foo() {
>   var index = 0;
>   while (index <= 2)
>     yield index++;
> }
>
> var iterator = foo();
> console.log(iterator.next()); // { value: 0, done: false }
> console.log(iterator.next()); // { value: 1, done: false }
> console.log(iterator.next()); // { value: 2, done: false }
> console.log(iterator.next()); // { value: undefined, done: true }
>
>       Also, this change set will break existing Generator instances if you load them into your image and it happens to have some.
>
>
> Okay, this is a problem. Maybe a new class?
>
> Or maybe try to accommodate both - *if* peek or atEnd are called, then compute ahead, otherwise don't... but that might be tricky and confusing.
>
> - Bert -
>
>  
>
>       Bert Freudenberg wrote:
>
>             Hi all,
>             there was an interesting question about Generators on StackOverflow:
>
>             http://stackoverflow.com/questions/43340007/yield-prolog-adaptation-for-smalltalk
>
>             It's about a pseudo-Prolog implementation using Generators and yield.
>
>             Our Generator *almost* works for this, except there is a little problem with the timing of side-effects:
>
>             | x gen |
>             x := 0.
>
>             gen := Generator on: [:g |
>             x := 1.
>             g yield: nil.
>
>             x := 2.
>             g yield: nil.
>
>             x := 3.
>             g yield: nil].
>
>             gen do: [:i | Transcript cr; show: x].
>
>             This *should* print '1 2 3' but actually prints '2 3 3'. This is because our Generator is written to support a streaming interface (using atEnd
>             and peek) so it always computes one yield ahead.
>
>             In other languages (e.g. JavaScript, Python, C#) this is different, the execution is paused at the current yield statement, not 'before' the next
>             one. In general, a generator cannot know if there will be more "yields" without executing more code. In Javascript, 'next' returns both a value
>             and a 'done' flag, and if the flag is true, the returned value must not be used.
>
>             IMHO we should fix this - see attached changeset Marcel and I came up with. We did not fix the tests yet, but the behavior seems right.
>
>             Even though generators are in the image for a long time they are not used widely yet (AFAIK) so maybe we can still change the behavior? What do
>             people think?
>
>             - Bert & Marcel -
>
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