# Zip Iterator

Author: | David Abrahams, Thomas Becker
Contact: | dave@boost-consulting.com, thomas@styleadvisor.com
Organization: | Boost Consulting, Zephyr Associates, Inc.
Date: | 2004-01-27
Copyright: | Copyright David Abrahams and Thomas Becker 2003. All rights reserved

abstract: | The zip iterator provides the ability to parallel-iterate over several controlled sequences simultaneously. A zip iterator is constructed from a tuple of iterators. Moving the zip iterator moves all the iterators in parallel. Dereferencing the zip iterator returns a tuple that contains the results of dereferencing the individual iterators.

Table of Contents

- `zip_iterator` synopsis
- `zip_iterator` requirements
- `zip_iterator` models
- `zip_iterator` operations
- Examples

# `zip_iterator` synopsis

    template<typename IteratorTuple>
    class zip_iterator
    {

    public:
      typedef /* see below */ reference;
      typedef reference value_type;
      typedef value_type* pointer;
      typedef /* see below */ difference_type;
      typedef /* see below */ iterator_category;

      zip_iterator();
      zip_iterator(IteratorTuple iterator_tuple);

      template<typename OtherIteratorTuple>
      zip_iterator(
            const zip_iterator<OtherIteratorTuple>& other
          , typename enable_if_convertible<
                  OtherIteratorTuple
                , IteratorTuple>::type* = 0     // exposition only
      );

      const IteratorTuple& get_iterator_tuple() const;

    private:
      IteratorTuple m_iterator_tuple;     // exposition only
    };

    template<typename IteratorTuple>
    zip_iterator<IteratorTuple>
    make_zip_iterator(IteratorTuple t);

The `reference` member of `zip_iterator` is the type of the tuple made of the reference types of the iterator types in the `IteratorTuple` argument.

The `difference_type` member of `zip_iterator` is the `difference_type` of the first of the iterator types in the `IteratorTuple` argument.

The `iterator_category` member of `zip_iterator` is convertible to the minimum of the traversal categories of the iterator types in the `IteratorTuple` argument. For example, if the `zip_iterator` holds only vector iterators, then `iterator_category` is convertible to `boost::random_access_traversal_tag`. If you add a list iterator, then `iterator_category` will be convertible to `boost::bidirectional_traversal_tag`, but no longer to `boost::random_access_traversal_tag`.

# `zip_iterator` requirements

All iterator types in the argument `IteratorTuple` shall model Readable Iterator.

# `zip_iterator` models

The resulting `zip_iterator` models Readable Iterator.

The fact that the `zip_iterator` models only Readable Iterator does not prevent you from modifying the values that the individual iterators point to. The tuple returned by the `zip_iterator`'s `operator*` is a tuple constructed from the reference types of the individual iterators, not their value types. For example, if `zip_it` is a `zip_iterator` whose first member iterator is an `std::vector<double>::iterator`, then the following line will modify the value which the first member iterator of `zip_it` currently points to:

    zip_it->get<0>() = 42.0;

Consider the set of standard traversal concepts obtained by taking the most refined standard traversal concept modeled by each individual iterator type in the `IteratorTuple` argument.The `zip_iterator` models the least refined standard traversal concept in this set.

`zip_iterator<IteratorTuple1>` is interoperable with `zip_iterator<IteratorTuple2>` if and only if `IteratorTuple1` is interoperable with `IteratorTuple2`.

# `zip_iterator` operations

In addition to the operations required by the concepts modeled by `zip_iterator`, `zip_iterator` provides the following operations.

`zip_iterator();`

Returns: | An instance of `zip_iterator` with `m_iterator_tuple` default constructed.

`zip_iterator(IteratorTuple iterator_tuple);`

Returns: | An instance of `zip_iterator` with `m_iterator_tuple` initialized to `iterator_tuple`.

    template<typename OtherIteratorTuple>
    zip_iterator(
          const zip_iterator<OtherIteratorTuple>& other
        , typename enable_if_convertible<
                OtherIteratorTuple
              , IteratorTuple>::type* = 0     // exposition only
    );

Returns: | An instance of `zip_iterator` that is a copy of `other`.
Requires: | `OtherIteratorTuple` is implicitly convertible to `IteratorTuple`.

`const IteratorTuple& get_iterator_tuple() const;`

Returns: | `m_iterator_tuple`

`reference operator*() const;`

Returns: | A tuple consisting of the results of dereferencing all iterators in `m_iterator_tuple`.

`zip_iterator& operator++();`

Effects: | Increments each iterator in `m_iterator_tuple`.
Returns: | `*this`

`zip_iterator& operator--();`

Effects: | Decrements each iterator in `m_iterator_tuple`.
Returns: | `*this`

    template<typename IteratorTuple>
    zip_iterator<IteratorTuple>
    make_zip_iterator(IteratorTuple t);

Returns: | An instance of `zip_iterator<IteratorTuple>` with `m_iterator_tuple` initialized to `t`.

    template<typename IteratorTuple>
    zip_iterator<IteratorTuple>
    make_zip_iterator(IteratorTuple t);

Returns: | An instance of `zip_iterator<IteratorTuple>` with `m_iterator_tuple` initialized to `t`.

# Examples

There are two main types of applications of the `zip_iterator`. The first one concerns runtime efficiency: If one has several controlled sequences of the same length that must be somehow processed, e.g., with the `for_each` algorithm, then it is more efficient to perform just one parallel-iteration rather than several individual iterations. For an example, assume that `vect_of_doubles` and `vect_of_ints` are two vectors of equal length containing doubles and ints, respectively, and consider the following two iterations:

    std::vector<double>::const_iterator beg1 = vect_of_doubles.begin();
    std::vector<double>::const_iterator end1 = vect_of_doubles.end();
    std::vector<int>::const_iterator beg2 = vect_of_ints.begin();
    std::vector<int>::const_iterator end2 = vect_of_ints.end();

    std::for_each(beg1, end1, func_0());
    std::for_each(beg2, end2, func_1());

These two iterations can now be replaced with a single one as follows:

    std::for_each(
      boost::make_zip_iterator(
        boost::make_tuple(beg1, beg2)
        ),
      boost::make_zip_iterator(
        boost::make_tuple(end1, end2)
        ),
      zip_func()
      );

A non-generic implementation of `zip_func` could look as follows:

    struct zip_func :
      public std::unary_function<const boost::tuple<const double&, const int&>&, void>
    {
      void operator()(const boost::tuple<const double&, const int&>& t) const
      {
        m_f0(t.get<0>());
        m_f1(t.get<1>());
      }

    private:
      func_0 m_f0;
      func_1 m_f1;
    };

The second important application of the `zip_iterator` is as a building block to make combining iterators. A combining iterator is an iterator that parallel-iterates over several controlled sequences and, upon dereferencing, returns the result of applying a functor to the values of the sequences at the respective positions. This can now be achieved by using the `zip_iterator` in conjunction with the `transform_iterator`.

Suppose, for example, that you have two vectors of doubles, say `vect_1` and `vect_2`, and you need to expose to a client a controlled sequence containing the products of the elements of `vect_1` and `vect_2`. Rather than placing these products in a third vector, you can use a combining iterator that calculates the products on the fly. Let us assume that `tuple_multiplies` is a functor that works like `std::multiplies`, except that it takes its two arguments packaged in a tuple. Then the two iterators `it_begin` and `it_end` defined below delimit a controlled sequence containing the products of the elements of `vect_1` and `vect_2`:

    typedef boost::tuple<
      std::vector<double>::const_iterator,
      std::vector<double>::const_iterator
      > the_iterator_tuple;

    typedef boost::zip_iterator<
      the_iterator_tuple
      > the_zip_iterator;

    typedef boost::transform_iterator<
      tuple_multiplies<double>,
      the_zip_iterator
      > the_transform_iterator;

    the_transform_iterator it_begin(
      the_zip_iterator(
        the_iterator_tuple(
          vect_1.begin(),
          vect_2.begin()
          )
        ),
      tuple_multiplies<double>()
      );

    the_transform_iterator it_end(
      the_zip_iterator(
        the_iterator_tuple(
          vect_1.end(),
          vect_2.end()
          )
        ),
      tuple_multiplies<double>()
      );

The source code for these examples can be found here.