What are some practical use cases for iterators and generators in programming?

What are some practical use cases for iterators and generators in programming?

Iterators and generators are useful for handling large datasets, lazy evaluation, and creating infinite sequences. For example, you can use a generator to read a large file line by line without loading the entire file into memory.

Can you give me an example of a generator function?

Sure! Here's a simple generator function that yields the first n Fibonacci numbers:

def fibonacci(n):
    a, b = 0, 1
    for _ in range(n):
        yield a
        a, b = b, a + b

How do iterators differ from generators?

Iterators are objects that implement the iterator protocol, which consists of the __iter__() and __next__() methods. Generators, on the other hand, are a simpler way to create iterators using the yield keyword, making them easier to write and read.

What are some performance benefits of using generators?

Generators can improve performance by reducing memory usage since they yield items one at a time instead of storing them all in memory. This is especially beneficial when working with large datasets or streams of data.