nextiteratorlike

Nextiteratorlike is a term used in programming to describe objects or interfaces that generate a sequence of values by advancing to the next element in a manner that resembles, but may not strictly conform to, a conventional iterator. The emphasis is on the capability to produce a next value on demand while maintaining internal state, allowing lazy evaluation and incremental consumption of potentially unbounded data sources.

Core characteristics include: a stateful progression mechanism, a next-like operation that yields either a value or an indication that the sequence is exhausted, and typically a deterministic order. Implementations may provide additional features such as peeking at the upcoming element, resetting to a known start, or composing with other nextiteratorlike sources via functional transforms or adapters.

Design considerations involve interoperability with existing iterator protocols, naming clarity, error handling around failure to generate a value, and thread-safety in concurrent contexts. Some designs distinguish strict iterators (where next always returns a value or signals exhaustion) from more flexible nextiteratorlike forms that may allow optional results, exceptions, or asynchronous stepping.

Usage scenarios include streaming data, lazy pipelines, and generator-style computations where the cost of computing each element is amortized over consumption. The concept also appears in discussions about language features for uniform iteration protocols and in libraries that aim to abstract over diverse data sources, such as collections, streams, and asynchronous sequences.