class MovableListIterator: """This is an iterator for lists which allows one to advance or regress the position in the list. It also will raise an exception if the list is lengthened or shortened.""" def __init__(self, myList): self.myList = myList self.originalLength = len(myList) self.nextIndex = 0 def __iter__(self): return self class ListModifiedException(Exception): pass def next(self): if len(self.myList) != self.originalLength: raise MovableListIterator.ListModifiedException index = self.nextIndex if index >= self.originalLength: raise StopIteration self.nextIndex += 1 return self.myList[index] def advance(self, places=1): self.nextIndex += places def regress(self, places=1): self.nextIndex -= places import unittest class TestMovableListIterator(unittest.TestCase): def test_create(self): li = list('abcde') i = MovableListIterator(li) def test_basic_loop(self): li = 'abcde' self.assertEqual( list(li), [x for x in MovableListIterator(li)] ) def test_advance(self): li = 'abcdef' result = [] i = MovableListIterator(li) result.append( i.next() ) i.advance() result.append( i.next() ) i.advance(2) result.append( i.next() ) self.assertEqual( list('acf'), result ) self.assertRaises( StopIteration, i.next ) def test_regress(self): li = 'abc' result = [] i = MovableListIterator(li) result.append( i.next() ) i.regress() result.append( i.next() ) result.append( i.next() ) result.append( i.next() ) i.regress(2) result.append( i.next() ) result.append( i.next() ) self.assertEqual( list('aabcbc'), result ) self.assertRaises( StopIteration, i.next ) def test_shrink_throws(self): li = [1,2,3,4] i = MovableListIterator(li) li.pop() self.assertRaises( MovableListIterator.ListModifiedException, i.next ) def test_grow_throws(self): li = [1,2,3,4] i = MovableListIterator(li) li.append(5) self.assertRaises( MovableListIterator.ListModifiedException, i.next )