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Generators


Generators are very easy to implement, but a bit difficult to understand.

Generators are used to create iterators, but with a different approach. Generators are simple functions which return an iterable set of items, one at a time, in a special way.

When an iteration over a set of item starts using the for statement, the generator is run. Once the generator's function code reaches a "yield" statement, the generator yields its execution back to the for loop, returning a new value from the set. The generator function can generate as many values (possibly infinite) as it wants, yielding each one in its turn.

Here is a simple example of a generator function which returns 7 random integers:

  import random

  def lottery():
      # returns 6 numbers between 1 and 40
      for i in range(6):
          yield random.randint(1, 40)

      # returns a 7th number between 1 and 15
      yield random.randint(1, 15)

  for random_number in lottery():
         print("And the next number is... %d!" %(random_number))

This function decides how to generate the random numbers on its own, and executes the yield statements one at a time, pausing in between to yield execution back to the main for loop.

Exercise

Write a generator function which returns the Fibonacci series. They are calculated using the following formula: The first two numbers of the series is always equal to 1, and each consecutive number returned is the sum of the last two numbers. Hint: Can you use only two variables in the generator function? Remember that assignments can be done simultaneously. The code

a = 1
b = 2
a, b = b, a
print(a, b)

will simultaneously switch the values of a and b.

# fill in this function def fib(): pass #this is a null statement which does nothing when executed, useful as a placeholder. # testing code import types if type(fib()) == types.GeneratorType: print("Good, The fib function is a generator.") counter = 0 for n in fib(): print(n) counter += 1 if counter == 10: break # fill in this function def fib(): a, b = 1, 1 while 1: yield a a, b = b, a + b # testing code import types if type(fib()) == types.GeneratorType: print("Good, The fib function is a generator.") counter = 0 for n in fib(): print(n) counter += 1 if counter == 10: break test_output_contains("Good, The fib function is a generator.") success_msg('Good work!')

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