Have your cake and eat it too. Who says you can't have nice things in an efficient, type-safe, compiled language? Don't let your Python-slinging coworkers have the last laugh, this is C++ Range:

#include <iostream>
#include "range.h"

using namespace whoshuu;

int main(int argc, char** argv) {
    for (auto i : range(100)) {
        std::cout << i << std::endl; // Prints 0 to 99
    }

    for (auto i : range(10, 100)) {
        std::cout << i << std::endl; // Prints 10 to 99
    }

    for (auto i : range(10, 0, -1) {
        std::cout << i << std::endl; // Prints 10 to 1, counting down
    }

    for (auto i : range(2.718, 100.0, 3.14) {
        std::cout << i << std::endl; // Prints 2.178 to 96.918, by increments of π, yum!
    }
}

Here's an initial benchmark of my library against a naive vector range implementation and basic for-loop:

As you can see, for ranges up to 100000, all approaches are roughly equivalent. In most applications, this is perfectly acceptable, and the tradeoff in performance for an idiomatic (not to mention flexible) range iterator is probably worth it. The most optimal loop will always be the basic for-loop however, so if efficiency is paramount, use that instead.

You can find raw data for the analysis here.

Just throw the header into your project, be wary of the whoshuu namespace, and let it rip!

The only explicit requirement is a C++11 compatible compiler such as clang or gcc. The minimum required version of gcc is unknown, so if anyone has trouble using library with a specific version of gcc, do let me know.

Please fork this repository and contribute back using pull requests. Features can be requested using issues. All code, comments, and critiques are greatly appreciated.