Iterators and streams

Yona is strictly evaluated, but two library types give you streaming, demand-driven data processing: the prelude Iterator (a stateful pull handle, ideal for I/O sources) and Std\Stream (a pure lazy sequence built from explicit thunks). Both let you process data far larger than memory — one element resident at a time.

The Iterator type

Iterator is a prelude type — available everywhere without an import:

type Iterator a = Iterator (() -> Option a)

An iterator wraps a next function: each call returns Some element until the source is exhausted, then None. The state (file offset, scan position) lives behind the closure, so iterators are inherently single-use — once drained, they cannot be rewound.

Streaming sources in the stdlib

Several stdlib functions return iterators instead of materialized sequences:

Function	Returns	Yields
Std\File::readLines path	Iterator String	file lines, 64 KB buffered
Std\String::chars str	Iterator Int	character codes
Std\String::split delim str	Iterator String	substrings, on demand
Std\String::lines str	Iterator String	lines split on \n

import chars, split from Std\String in
let codes = [c for c = chars "hi"],
    parts = [s for s = split "," "a,b,c"]
in codes
# => [104, 105]        (parts is ["a", "b", "c"])

Generators consume iterators in O(1) memory

Comprehensions detect an Iterator source and compile to a streaming loop: call next(), stop on None, evaluate the body on the element, append to the result. Only one source element is live at a time.

import readLines from Std\File, length from Std\String in
[length line for line = readLines "large_file.txt"]
# => one Int per line — the file is never fully resident

Implementation note. The generator loop appends with an O(1)-amortized seq_snoc, so results grow without a size limit. readLines is backed by a C iterator holding a 64 KB read buffer that is reused across next() calls; memory use is O(64 KB) regardless of file size. The result sequence is materialized — if you also want the output to stay small, fold instead of collecting (see the worked example below).

Iterators vs materialized sequences

Scenario	Seq (eager)	Iterator (streaming)
50 MB file, count lines	O(50 MB) memory	O(64 KB) memory
1M-char string, per-char work	O(1M) allocations up front	O(1) per char
Split a 10K-field CSV row	10K strings up front	one string per field

Guidance: use a Seq when the data is small, when you need random access, length, or multiple passes. Use an iterator when the source is I/O, when the data may be large, or when you will consume it exactly once, front to back. Iterators are forward-only, have no length, and are single-use.

Std\Stream: lazy sequences from explicit thunks

Iterator hides mutable state in the runtime. Std\Stream is the pure alternative: laziness encoded directly in an ADT, with the “rest of the sequence” as an explicit thunk. This is how a strict language expresses lazy streams — the same shape as OCaml’s Seq or ML lazy streams:

type Stream a = Yield a (() -> Stream a) | Nil

Yield x rest exposes the head element and a function that produces the rest when called. Nothing runs until a consumer forces the next step. There is no hidden state: “what comes next” lives in the recursive arguments of whatever operator built the stream.

Producers

empty, singleton, fromSeq, range, naturals, repeat, iterate, unfold, and fromIterator start a pipeline:

import range, iterate, unfold from Std\Stream in
range 1 5            # 1, 2, 3, 4         (hi is exclusive)
iterate (\n -> n * 2) 1   # 1, 2, 4, 8, ...  (infinite)
unfold (\s -> if s > 3 then None else Some (s, s + 1)) 1  # 1, 2, 3

repeat, iterate, and naturals are infinite — always bound them with take or a short-circuiting terminator before materializing.

Lazy transformers

map, filter, take, drop, takeWhile, dropWhile, zip, zipWith, concat, flatMap, scan, and chunksOf transform a stream without running it. Pipelines read naturally with |>:

import fromSeq, map, sum from Std\Stream in
fromSeq [1, 2, 3] |> map (\x -> x * x) |> sum
# => 14

import range, filter, take, toSeq from Std\Stream in
range 1 1000000 |> filter (\x -> x % 7 == 0) |> take 3 |> toSeq
# => [7, 14, 21]      (the range is never fully evaluated)

chunksOf n groups consecutive elements into Seq chunks of size n (the last chunk may be shorter) — here [1, 2, 3], [4, 5, 6], [7]:

import range, chunksOf, count from Std\Stream in
range 1 8 |> chunksOf 3 |> count
# => 3

Terminators

toSeq, foldl, forEach, count, sum, anyMatch, allMatch, find, head, and isEmpty actually pull elements through the pipeline. anyMatch, allMatch, find, and head short-circuit:

import naturals, map, find from Std\Stream in
case naturals |> map (\n -> n * n) |> find (\sq -> sq > 50) of
    Some sq -> sq
    None -> 0
end
# => 64

Resource scoping: bracket Partial

bracket acquire release produce runs release exactly once when the stream from produce is fully drained; the resource is held across the whole stream, not per element:

import bracket, forEach from Std\Stream in
bracket (\_ -> openThing 0) (\r -> closeThing r) (\r -> streamFrom r)
    |> forEach handle

The partial part: abandoning a bracketed stream before Nil (for example take 10 of a longer source) currently leaks the resource — a consumer-drop signal is planned. acquire and release take an ignored Int argument rather than () for calling-convention reasons.

Concurrency boundaries

An entire Std\Stream pipeline runs in the consumer’s task. Forcing the next element is a function call, with no hidden thread or channel. Streams contain arbitrary continuation closures, so they are intentionally not Shareable and cannot safely cross Std\Task.spawn. For concurrent pipelines, compose Std\Channel and Std\Task directly and send only values whose types satisfy the required Send and Shareable constraints.

Worked example: a large file in constant memory

Total the line lengths of a file without ever holding more than one line (plus the 64 KB read buffer) in memory. The comprehension streams from the iterator and the fold consumes each element as it arrives:

import readLines from Std\File,
       foldl from Std\List,
       length from Std\String in
foldl (\total n -> total + n) 0
      [length line for line = readLines "lines.txt"]

printf 'alpha\nbeta\ngamma\n' > lines.txt
yonac -o total total.yona
./total
# => 14

The same shape with Std\Stream keeps everything in one lazy, sequential pipeline:

import fromIterator, map, sum from Std\Stream,
       readLines from Std\File,
       length from Std\String in
fromIterator (readLines "lines.txt") |> map (\line -> length line) |> sum
# => 14

(The lambda wrapper around length is currently required — passing an imported function directly as a higher-order argument is a known compiler gap.)

Limitations

• Iterators are linear. Forward-only, no length without draining, single-use. Wrapping the same iterator with fromIterator twice yields two streams that share and corrupt state — lift each iterator exactly once.
• Streams are single-consumer. toSeq drains the stream; a second consumer would re-run the pipeline from scratch. A broadcast primitive is planned separately.
• No stream fusion for Std\Stream yet. Each map/filter step allocates a closure per element. Comprehension pipelines are fused (see Performance); for the hottest sequential loops, prefer a comprehension or a single foldl over a long stream pipeline.
• Dict/Set iteration is not yet exposed as an iterator.
• zip termination. zip stops when either input ends; the other stream’s producer is left dangling (same root cause as the bracket abandonment gap).