Understanding range concepts and views
The term range refers to an abstraction that defines a sequence of elements bounded by start and end iterators. A range, therefore, represents an iterable sequence of elements. However, such a sequence can be defined in several ways:
- With a begin iterator and an end sentinel. Such a sequence is iterated from the beginning to the end. A sentinel is an object that indicates the end of the sequence. It can have the same type as the iterator type or it can be of a different type.
- With a start object and a size (number of elements), representing a so-called counted sequence. Such a sequence is iterated N times (where N represents the size) from the start.
- With a start and a predicate, representing a so-called conditionally terminated sequence. Such a sequence is iterated from the start until the predicate returns false.
- With only a start value, representing a so-called unbounded sequence. Such a sequence can be iterated indefinitely...
