Ranges and/versus iterators

[clueless bystander]

Lars T. Kyllingstad Wrote:

> clueless bystander wrote:
> > Watching D evolve from the outside there seems to be a lot of ongoing discussion
> > on this newsgroup about the D range idiom which is somehow opposed to conventional
> > thinking about iterators.
> > 
> > Can someone please explain in plain words just exactly what a range is and how
> > it differs from the iterator concept (if that's appropriate???) and what are the benefits
> > from a data modeling and access perspective.
> > 
> > Sure, I'm clueless, though suspect many other bystanders would appreciate a
> > succinct heads-up.
> > 
> > Thanks,
> > clueless bystander
> 
> 
> I'm probably not the right person to answer your question, since I have 
> virtually no experience with C++ iterators.  Instead I'll just refer you 
> to Andrei's own article on the subject:
> 
>    http://www.informit.com/articles/article.aspx?p=1407357
> 
> Please don't hesitate to ask again if it didn't clear things up for you. :)
> 
> -Lars

Thanks Lars.  I'm not quite willing to accept that 15 pages is succinct but if that's
what it takes to build up the background then that's what it takes.  I'm up
to page 3 now and, btw, like the way the author *does not* mince his words:

"Such matters as a polynomial slowdown were too mundane to hinder the power of S-lists, so some functional programmers got imbued with an attitude of contempt toward arrays and associative arrays, data structures essential to many algorithms."

c.b.