An iterator is an object that traverses a set of other objects. There is an underlying data structure associated with an iterator. The iterator contains a traversal state of this data structure. Besides its constructors and destructors, an iterator generally has member functions to access the element at the current position, to check whether the iterator has passed the end position, and to shift the iterator to the next position.

The container for the iterator to scan (for example, an array of elements) is a Solver handle. Likewise, the data in the container (in our example, an element) is also a Solver handle. In both cases—the container and the data—the handle points to an implementation object. From this point of view, you can see that an iterator semantically resembles a string: the container is like the array that defines a string; the data is like characters in the string; a handle pointing to a null implementation object is like the null pointer that customarily terminates a string.

See Also

IlcAnyDeltaPossibleIterator, IlcAnyDeltaRequiredIterator, IlcAnySetIterator, IlcAnyVarArrayIterator, IlcIntDeltaPossibleIterator, IlcIntDeltaRequiredIterator, IlcIntSetIterator, IlcAnyExpIterator, IlcAnySetVarArrayIterator, IlcAnyVarDeltaIterator, IlcIntExpIterator, IlcIntSetVarArrayIterator, IlcIntVarArrayIterator, IlcIntVarDeltaIterator