currentnextelement

currentnextelement is a concept in data processing and programming that refers to a pair consisting of the current element and the next element in a sequence. It is used to support lookahead operations, allowing algorithms to inspect the upcoming item while still processing the present one. This pattern is common in iteration, parsing, and streaming contexts where decisions depend on what lies ahead.

In practice, currentnextelement is often implemented as a small wrapper or structure that holds two references: current and next. An iterator or loop maintains these two values, advancing by setting current to next and loading a new next item from the underlying sequence. This approach enables one-step lookahead without exposing the full sequence or rewinding.

Applications include sliding window processing, where decisions depend on the current item and its successor, and tokenization or parsing tasks that require a single-token lookahead to determine the correct rule or branch. It is also useful in data validation, stream processing, and algorithms that need to detect patterns spanning adjacent elements.

Implementation notes:

- A typical pattern initializes current and next from the sequence, processes current, then updates both by advancing to the following pair.

- Do not forget to handle end-of-sequence cases gracefully when next becomes undefined or null.

- The approach trades a small amount of extra state for the ability to make decisions based on the upcoming element.

See also: lookahead, peeking, sliding window, two-pointer technique.