Iteration

Python support iteration, for example, iterating over a list:

for elem in [1, 2, 3]:
    print elem

Iterating over a dict:

for key in {'Google': 'G',
              'Yahoo': 'Y',
              'Microsoft': 'M'}:
    print key

Iterating over a file:

with open('path/to/file.csv', 'r') as file:
    for line in file:
        print line

We use iterable objects in many ways, for example, reductions: sum(s), min(s), constructors: list(s), in operators: item in s.

The reason why we can iterate over iterable is because of iterable protocols: any objects that supports iter() and next() is an itterable. For example, we can define one itterable object in the following way:

class count:

def __init__(self, start):
    self.count = start

def __iter__(self):
    return self

Def next(self):
    if self.count < 0:
        raise StopIteration
    r = self.count
    self.count -=1
    return r

We can use the above example in this way:

c = count(5)
for i in c:
    print I
# 5, 4, 3, 2, 1

Generator

So what is a generator? By definition: a generator is a function that produces a sequence of results instead of a single value.

So generator is a function, it is different from other functions that it generates a sequence of results instead of a single value. Generator function is very different from normal function, calling the generator function will create one generator, but would not execute it, until next() is called. The following is an example of generator:

def count(n):
    while n > 0:
        yield n
        n -= 1

c = count(5)

Note that when we first initiate count, it won’t execute. Until the first time we call, c.next() the generator would start to execute. But it will suspend on the yield command, until next time it executes.

So to speak, a generator is a convenient way of writing an iterator, and you don’t have to worry about iterator protocols.

Except for yield based generator function, python also supports generator expression:

a = [1, 2, 3, 4]
b = [x*2 for x in a]
c = (x*2 for x in a)

b is still a regular list, while c is a generator.

Co-routine

Python coroutine is very similar to generator. Think about the following pattern:

def receive_count():
    try:
        while True:
            n = (yield) # Yield expression
            print "T-minues ", n
    except GeneratorExit:
        print "Exit from generator."

The above form of generator is called coroutine. Coroutine is different from generator in that it receives data instead of generates data. Think of it as a consumer or receiver.

To use python co-routine, you need to call next() first so that the function executes to the yield field part, then you can use send to send the value to the function. For example:

    c = receive_count()
    c.next() # trigger to yield function
    c.send(1) # sending 1 to the co-routine.
    # prints "T-minus 1"

Python provided a decorator called @consumer to execute the next() function part. With the consumer decorator, the co-routine can be used directly.

Then the question is: why don’t we just declare co-routine as a regular function where you can send the value to it directly instead of relying on the yield expression? Using coroutine in the given examples doesn’t fully justify it’s value. More often, people use co-routine to implement a application level multiple threading. I will introduce more about this later.