Using generator function in Python

Question

As I come from a Java background, is there a Java equivalent of generator? The book was speaking about 'Producer / Consumer', however when I hear that I think of threading.

What is a generator and why would you use it?

Answer 1

A generator is effectively a function that returns (data) before it is finished, but it pauses at that point, and you can resume the function at that point.

>>> def myGenerator():
...     yield 'These'
...     yield 'words'
...     yield 'come'
...     yield 'one'
...     yield 'at'
...     yield 'a'
...     yield 'time'

>>> myGeneratorInstance = myGenerator()
>>> next(myGeneratorInstance)
These
>>> next(myGeneratorInstance)
words

and so on. The (or one) benefit of generators is that because they deal with data one piece at a time, you can deal with large amounts of data; with lists, excessive memory requirements could become a problem. Generators, just like lists, are iterable, so they can be used in the same ways:

>>> for word in myGeneratorInstance:
...     print word
These
words
come
one
at 
a 
time