Description: An iterator is an object that allows traversing a collection of elements sequentially without exposing the internal representation of that collection. In the context of programming languages like Kotlin, TypeScript, PHP, and C++, iterators are fundamental for facilitating the manipulation of data structures such as lists, sets, and maps. Their main characteristic is that they provide a common interface for accessing the elements of a collection, allowing developers to write cleaner and more maintainable code. Iterators typically implement methods like ‘next()’ to advance to the next element and ‘hasNext()’ to check if more elements are available. In the case of various programming environments, iterators allow for efficiently traversing large data sets, optimizing performance and resource usage. The implementation of iterators in different languages may vary, but their purpose remains the same: to simplify access to the elements of a collection and improve code readability.
