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c++c++11for-loopauto

How to create a for loop to go through vectors using the c++11 syntax


I have a class which contains some vectors (minimal code here):

class Foo
{
public: 
   Foo() = default;
private:
   void DoStuff(); 

   std::vector<int>&    mBarInt;
   std::vector<double>  mBarDouble;

   int do_something_with_int;
   double do_something_with_double;
};

On my DoStuff() method I have:

void Foo::DoStuff()
{
    for(auto &val : mBarInt)
    {
        // do something here...
        do_something_with_int = val + ....
    }
}

I would like to do something like this, accessing the two vectors on the same for, but (see below after code) ...

for(int i = 0 ; i < mBarInt.size() ; i++)
{
    // do something here...
    do_something_with_int = mBarInt[i] + ....
    do_something_with_double = mBarDouble[i] + .... // I know mBarDouble has the same size has mBarInt
}

... keeping the same c++11 syntax with the: for(auto &val : mBarInt)

Something like this below:

void Foo::DoStuff()
{
    for(auto &val1, auto val2 : mBarInt, mBarDouble) //?????<---- How can I do this?
    {
         // do something with val1 and val2, which I know that will point to different vectors, but on the same index.
    }
}

Solution

  • template<class It>
    struct indexing_iterator {
      It it = {};
      using value_type = It;
      using reference = value_type;
      It operator*() const { return it; }
      indexing_iterator& operator++() { ++it; return *this; }
      friend bool operator==( indexing_iterator const& lhs, indexing_iterator const& rhs ) {
        return lhs.it == rhs.it;
      }
      friend bool operator!=( indexing_iterator const& lhs, indexing_iterator const& rhs ) {
        return !(lhs==rhs);
      }
    };
    
    template<class F, class It_in>
    struct transform_iterator_t:indexing_iterator<It_in> {
      F f = {};
      using reference = decltype(std::declval<F&>()( *std::declval<It_in&>() ) );
      using value_type = std::decay_t<reference>;
      using pointer = value_type*;
    
      reference operator*() { return f(*this->it); }
      transform_iterator_t( F f_in, It_in it_in ):
        indexing_iterator<It_in>{it_in},
        f(f_in)
      {}
    };
    template<class F, class It_in>
    transform_iterator_t<F,It_in> transform_iterator(
      F f, It_in it
    ) {
      return {f, it};
    }
    
    indexing_iterator<std::size_t> index( std::size_t n ) {
      return {n};
    }
    
    template<class It>
    struct range_t {
      It b,e;
      It begin() const { return b; }
      It end() const { return b; }
    };
    template<class It>
    range_t<It> range( It b, It e ) { return {b,e}; }
    
    auto range_upto( std::size_t n ) {
      return range( index(0), index(n) );
    }
    
    template<class C>
    auto to_range( C&& c ) {
      using std::begin; using std::end;
      return range( begin(c), end(c) );
    }
    
    template<class It, class F>
    range_t< transform_iterator< F, It > >
    transform_range( F f, range_t<It> range ) {
      return {
        transform_iterator( f, range.begin() ),
        transform_iterator( f, range.end() )
      };
    }
    
    template<class F>
    auto generator_range( F f, std::size_t count ) {
      return transform_range( f, range_upto(count) );
    }
    
    template<class C1, class C2>
    auto zip_over( C1& c1, C2& c2 ) {
      return generator_range(
        [&](std::size_t i) {
          return std::tie( c1[i], c2[i] );
        },
        (std::min)(c1.size(), c2.size())
      );
    }
    

    then in C++17 we have

    void Foo::DoStuff() {
      for(auto&&[val1, val2] : zip_over(mBarInt, mBarDouble)) {
      }
    }
    

    or you can manually unpack the tuple in C++14.

    Seems like a lot of work.

    There are implementations of zip and the like in boost and other libraries, including Rangev3.

    Code not tested. Design should be sound.

    There is probably a shorter way to do it more directly, but I find generator via transform and indexing, and zip via generator, easier to understand and write with fewer bugs.

    An indexing_iterator takes an incrementable comparable object, and iterates over it. The It can be an integer-like or an interator.

    A transform_iterator takes an iterator and a transformation, and returns the transformation on each element.

    Neither are full iterators; I skipped the boilerplate. But they are enough for for(:) loops.

    A range holds 2 iterators and exposes them to for(:).

    An indexing_iterator<std::size_t> is otherwise known as a counting iterator.

    A generator iterator is a transformation of a counting iterator. It takes a function that takes an index, and generates an element for that index.

    We zip over two random access containers by generating a generator iterator that calls operator[] on both, then returns a tuple. Fancier zipping handles non-random access containers.

    The zip of two containers then lets you iterate in parallel over two different containers.

    I then use C++17 structured bindings in the for(:) statement to unpack them into two different variables. We could instead just manually unpack as the first 2 statements in our for loop.