What is the best way to get the count/length/size of an iterator?

Question

Is there a \"computationally\" quick way to get the count of an iterator?

int i = 0;
for ( ; some_iterator.hasNext() ; ++i ) some_iterator.next();
         


        

Answer 1

If all you have is the iterator, then no, there is no "better" way. If the iterator comes from a collection you could as that for size.

Keep in mind that Iterator is just an interface for traversing distinct values, you would very well have code such as this

    new Iterator() {
        final Random r = new Random();
        @Override
        public boolean hasNext() {
            return true;
        }

        @Override
        public Long next() {
            return r.nextLong();
        }

        @Override
        public void remove() {
            throw new IllegalArgumentException("Not implemented");
        }
    };

or

    new Iterator() {
        BigInteger next = BigInteger.ZERO;

        @Override
        public boolean hasNext() {
            return true;
        }

        @Override
        public BigInteger next() {
            BigInteger current = next;
            next = next.add(BigInteger.ONE);
            return current;
        }

        @Override
        public void remove() {
            throw new IllegalArgumentException("Not implemented");
        }
    };