On counting numbers

While we were at NSConference, Alistair Houghton told me that he was working on static NSNumbers in clang. I soon thought: wouldn’t it be nice to have code like this?

for (NSNumber *i in [@10 times]) { /* ... */ }

That would work something like this. You must know three things: one is that the methods have been renamed to avoid future clashes with Apple methods. Another is that we automatically get the NSFastEnumeration support from NSEnumerator, though it certainly is possible to code up a faster implementation of this. Finally, that this code is available under the terms of the WTFPL though without warranty, to the extent permitted by applicable law.

NSNumber+FALEnumeration.h

@interface NSNumber (FALEnumeration)
- (NSEnumerator *)FALtimes;
- (NSEnumerator *)FALto: (NSNumber *)otherNumber;
- (NSEnumerator *)FALto: (NSNumber *)otherNumber step: (double)step;
@end

NSNumber+FALEnumeration.m

#import "NSNumber+FALEnumeration.h"
#import "FALNumberEnumerator.h"

@implementation NSNumber (FALEnumeration)

- (NSEnumerator *)FALtimes {
    double val = [self doubleValue];
    return [FALNumberEnumerator enumeratorFrom: 0.0
                                            to: val
                                          step: val > 0.0 ? 1.0 : -1.0];
}

- (NSEnumerator *)FALto: (NSNumber *)otherNumber {
    double val = [self doubleValue];
    double otherVal = [otherNumber doubleValue];
    double sgn = (otherVal - val) > 0.0 ? 1.0 : -1.0;
    return [self to: otherNumber step: sgn]; 
}

- (NSEnumerator *)FALto: (NSNumber *)otherNumber step: (double)step {
    double val = [self doubleValue];
    double otherVal = [otherNumber doubleValue];
    return [FALNumberEnumerator enumeratorFrom: val
                                            to: otherVal
                                          step: step];
}
@end

FALNumberEnumerator.h

@interface FALNumberEnumerator : NSEnumerator {
    double end;
    double step;
    double cursor;
}

+ (id)enumeratorFrom: (double)beginning to: (double)conclusion step: (double)gap;

- (id)nextObject;
- (NSArray *)allObjects;

@end

FALNumberEnumerator.m

#import "FALNumberEnumerator.h"

@implementation FALNumberEnumerator

+ (id)enumeratorFrom:(double)beginning to:(double)conclusion step:(double)gap {
    NSParameterAssert(gap != 0.0);
    NSParameterAssert((conclusion - beginning) * gap > 0.0);
    FALNumberEnumerator *enumerator = [[self alloc] init];
    if (enumerator) {
        enumerator->end = conclusion;
        enumerator->step = gap;
        enumerator->cursor = beginning;
    }
    return [enumerator autorelease];
}

- (id)nextObject {
    if ((step > 0.0 && cursor >= end) || (step < 1.0 && cursor <= end)) {
        return nil;
    }
    id answer = [NSNumber numberWithDouble: cursor];
    cursor += step;
    return answer;
}

- (NSArray *)allObjects {
    NSMutableArray *objs = [NSMutableArray array];
    id nextObj = nil;
    while ((nextObj = [self nextObject]) != nil) {
        [objs addObject: nextObj];
    }
    return [[objs copy] autorelease];
}

@end