https://dev.eiffel.com/index.php?action=history&feed=atom&title=Talk%3AAuto-Increment_ProposalTalk:Auto-Increment Proposal - Revision history2026-05-25T16:52:08ZRevision history for this page on the wikiMediaWiki 1.24.1https://dev.eiffel.com/index.php?title=Talk:Auto-Increment_Proposal&diff=7579&oldid=prevColin-adams at 06:55, 9 March 20072007-03-09T06:55:06Z<p></p>
<p><b>New page</b></p><div>I don't know whether folks really like the side-effecting auto-incrementers or whether they are just taught to program that way in C and its derivatives.<br />
<br />
As for incrementors in INTEGER(_*) and CHARACTER(_*), I would say routines<br />
<br />
successor: like Current<br />
<br />
and predecessor: like Current<br />
<br />
to return the next and previous one would be useful accessors (they should not wrap around, and so need pre-conditions for the limts).<br />
<br />
and mutators:<br />
<br />
increment<br />
<br />
and <br />
<br />
decrement<br />
<br />
for the INTEGER(_*) types.<br />
<br />
Why you think iterators should be difficult for beginners puzzles me. They are dead easy.<br />
It is loops that are difficult for beginners (especially loop invariants - they are difficult for me too), <br />
and should be avoided whenever possible.<br />
<br />
Don't teach loops to beginners - teach iterators.</div>Colin-adams