Iterator Pattern
Summary
- The Iterator pattern provides a way of accessing elements of a collection sequentially, without knowing how the collection is structured.
- As an extension, the pattern allows for filtering elements in a variety of ways as they are generated.
Class diagram: (see Iterator Pattern code review)
Usage
Use the Iterator pattern when you are iterating over a collection and one of these conditions holds:
- There are various ways of traversing it (several enumerators).
- There are different collections for the same kind of traversing.
- Different filters and orderings might apply.