acquireiterable

Acquireiterable is a programming concept describing a value that can be iterated only after the underlying resource has been acquired. It is used to couple resource management with iteration, so the lifecycle of the resource is tied to the act of traversal.

In practice, acquireiterable is often realized as an interface or protocol that combines two responsibilities: a mechanism to acquire or prepare the resource, and a way to obtain an iterator over the data. Acquisition can be lazy, occurring when iteration begins, or eager, happening at construction. The iteration process is typically responsible for releasing the resource when traversal ends, either automatically through a managed scope (such as a context manager or disposable pattern) or explicitly via a close or release operation.

Usage scenarios commonly involve resources that require setup and teardown, such as files, streams, database cursors, or network connections. By wrapping iteration in an acquire-then-iterate pattern, implementations aim to prevent resource leaks and make the resource lifecycle explicit.

Benefits include improved safety for resource handling and clearer guarantees about when resources are held. Common drawbacks are added complexity, potential for acquisition-time exceptions, and the need for careful release semantics to avoid leaks or premature termination.

Example conceptually: an acquireiterable creates an iterator that opens a file when the first item is requested, yields lines one by one, and closes the file when iteration completes or if an error occurs mid-traversal.

Related concepts include Iterable and Iterator interfaces, resource-management patterns such as context managers or RAII, and the broader acquire-release lifecycle in software design.