Return double index of collection's element while iterating - iterator

Question

In Kotlin documentation I found the following example:
for ((index, value) in array.withIndex()) {
println("the element at $index is $value")
}
Is it possible (and how) to do the similar with 2D matrix:
for ((i, j, value) in matrix2D.withIndex()) {
// but iterate iver double index: i - row, j - column
if (otherMatrix2D[i, j] > value) doSomething()
}
How to make support this functionality in Kotlin class?

Answer 1

While the solutions proposed by miensol and hotkey are correct it would be the least efficient way to iterate a matrix. For instance, the solution of hotkey makes M * N allocations of Cell<T> plus M allocations of List<Cell<T>> and IntRange plus one allocation of List<List<Cell<T>>> and IntRange. Moreover lists resize when new cells are added so even more allocations happen. That's too much allocations for just iterating a matrix.
Iteration using an inline function
I would recommend you to implement a very similar and very effective at the same time extension function that will be similar to Array<T>.forEachIndexed. This solution doesn't do any allocations at all and as efficient as writing nested for cycles.
inline fun <T> Matrix<T>.forEachIndexed(callback: (Int, Int, T) -> Unit) {
for (i in 0..cols - 1) {
for (j in 0..rows - 1) {
callback(i, j, this[i, j])
}
}
}
You can call this function in the following way:
matrix.forEachIndexed { i, j, value ->
if (otherMatrix[i, j] > value) doSomething()
}
Iteration using a destructive declaration
If you want to use a traditional for-loop with destructive declaration for some reason there exist a way more efficient but hacky solution. It uses a sequence instead of allocating multiple lists and creates only a single instance of Cell, but the Cell itself is mutable.
data class Cell<T>(var i: Int, var j: Int, var value: T)
fun <T> Matrix<T>.withIndex(): Sequence<Cell<T>> {
val cell = Cell(0, 0, this[0, 0])
return generateSequence(cell) { cell ->
cell.j += 1
if (cell.j >= rows) {
cell.j = 0
cell.i += 1
if (cell.i >= cols) {
return#generateSequence null
}
}
cell.value = this[cell.i, cell.j]
cell
}
}
And you can use this function to iterate a matrix in a for-loop:
for ((i, j, item) in matrix.withIndex()) {
if (otherMatrix[i, j] > value) doSomething()
}
This solution is lightly less efficient than the first one and not so robust because of a mutable Cell, so I would really recommend you to use the first one.

Answer 2

These two language features are used for implementing the behaviour that you want:
For-loops can be used with any class that has a method that provides an iterator.
for (item in myItems) { ... }
This code will compile if myItems has function iterator() returning something with functions hasNext(): Boolean and next().
Usually it is an Iterable<SomeType> implementation (some collection), but you can add iterator() method to an existing class as an extension, and you will be able to use that class in for-loops as well.
For destructuring declaration, the item type should have componentN() functions.
val (x, y, z) = item
Here the compiler expects item to have component1(), component2() and component3() functions. You can also use data classes, they have these functions generated.
Destructuring in for-loop works in a similar way: the type that the iterator's next() returns must have componentN() functions.
Example implementation (not pretending to be best at performance, see below):
Class with destructuring support:
class Cell<T>(val i: Int, val j: Int, val item: T) {
operator fun component1() = i
operator fun component2() = j
operator fun component3() = item
}
Or using data class:
data class Cell<T>(val i: Int, val j: Int, val item: T)
Function that returns List<Cell<T>> (written as an extension, but can also be a member function):
fun <T> Matrix<T>.withIndex() =
(0 .. height - 1).flatMap { i ->
(0 .. width - 1). map { j ->
Cell(i, j, this[i, j])
}
}
The usage:
for ((i, j, item) in matrix2d.withIndex()) { ... }
UPD Solution offered by Michael actually performs better (run this test, the difference is about 2x to 3x), so it's more suitable for performance critical code.

Answer 3

The following method:
data class Matrix2DValue<T>(val x: Int, val y: Int, val value: T)
fun withIndex(): Iterable<Matrix2DValue<T>> {
//build the list of values
}
Would allow you to write for as:
for ((x, y, value) in matrix2d.withIndex()) {
println("value: $value, x: $x, y: $y")
}
Bear in mind though that the order in which you declare data class properties defines the values of (x, y, value) - as opposed to for variable names. You can find more information about destructuring in the Kotlin documentation.