What are some practical use cases for the iterator protocol?

What are some practical use cases for the iterator protocol?

The iterator protocol is widely used in programming for traversing collections. For example, in JavaScript, it allows you to loop through arrays and objects seamlessly.

Can you give me an example of how it's used in Python?

Sure! In Python, you can use the iterator protocol with the iter() function to create an iterator from a list, and then use next() to access elements one by one.

What are the benefits of using the iterator protocol?

Using the iterator protocol allows for more memory-efficient code, as it processes items one at a time rather than loading everything into memory at once.

Are there any downsides to using it?

One downside is that once an iterator is exhausted, it cannot be reused. You would need to create a new iterator to traverse the collection again.