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Cltn

Inherits from: Object

Class Description

This is an abstract superclass for collection classes.

It is useful for implementing functionality, that is inherited by such classes as:

	- OrdCltn (Collection)
	- Set
	- Stack
	- SortCltn (Tree)

In addition, this class is necessary for compatibility with Stepstone's ICpak101.

Method types

Testing Contents	- includesAllOf:
	- includesAnyOf:

Adding and Removing Contents	- addAll:
	- addContentsOf:
	- addContentsTo:
	- removeAll:
	- removeContentsFrom:
	- removeContentsOf:

Combining	- intersection:
	- union:
	- difference:

Converting	- asSet
	- asOrdCltn

Using Blocks	- detect:
	- detect:ifNone:
	- select:
	- reject:
	- collect:
	- count:

Making elements perform	- elementsPerform:
	- elementsPerform:with:
	- elementsPerform:with:with:
	- elementsPerform:with:with:with:

Do Blocks	- do:
	- do:until:

Methods

with:
+with:(int)nArgs,...

Returns a new object with nArgs elements.  For example,

id aCltn = [OrdCltn with:2,anObject,otherObject];

creates a collection and adds anObject and otherObject to it.  In a similar way, Set or SortCltn instances can be created like this.

with:with:
+with:firstObjectwith:nextObject

This method is equivalent to with: 2,firstObject,nextObject. 

add:
+add:firstObject

This method is equivalent to with: 1,firstObject. 

This (factory) method has the same name as the instance method add: and can be used as follows, in circumstances when the user does not want to allocate a collection unless it is actually used :

aCltn = [ (aCltn)?aCltn:OrdCltn add:myObject ];

This shows that creation of the collection is delayed until it is actually needed.  If the collection already exists, objects are simply added, using the instance method add:.

includesAllOf:
- (BOOL)includesAllOf:aCltn

Answer whether all the elements of aCltn are in the receiver, by sending includes: for each individual element.

includesAnyOf:
- (BOOL)includesAnyOf:aCltn

Answer whether any element of aCltn is in the receiver, by sending includes: for each individual element.

addAll:
-addAll:aCltn

Adds each member of aCltn to the receiver.  If aCltn is nil, no action is taken.  The argument aCltn need not be a collection, so long as it responds to eachElement in the same way as collections do.  Returns the receiver.

Note: If aCltn is the same object as the receiver, a addYourself message is sent to the object.

addContentsOf:
-addContentsOf:aCltn

This method is equivalent to addAll: and is provided for Stepstone ICpak101 compatibility.

addContentsTo:
-addContentsTo:aCltn

This method is equivalent to addAll:, but with argument and receiver interchanged, and is provided for Stepstone ICpak101 compatibility.

removeAll:
-removeAll:aCltn

Removes all of the members of aCltn from the receiver. The argument aCltn need not be a collection, as long as it responds to eachElement as collections do.  Returns the receiver. 

Note: If aCltn is the same object as the receiver, it empties itself using emptyYourself and returns the receiver.

removeContentsFrom:
-removeContentsFrom:aCltn

This method is equivalent to removeAll:, and is provided for compatibility with Stepstone ICpak101.

removeContentsOf:
-removeContentsOf:aCltn

This method is equivalent to removeAll:, and is provided for compatibility with Stepstone ICpak101.

intersection:
-intersection:bag

Returns a new Collection which is the intersection of the receiver and bag.  The new Collection contains only those elements that were in both the receiver and bag.  The argument bag need not be an actual Set or Bag instance, as long as it implements find: as Sets do.

union:
-union:bag

Returns a new Collection which is the union of the receiver and bag.  The new Collection returned has all the elements from both the receiver and bag.  The argument bag need not be an actual Set or Bag instance, as long as it implements eachElement: as Sets and Bags do.

difference:
-difference:bag

Returns a new Collection which is the difference of the receiver and bag.  The new Collection returned has only those elements in the receiver that are not in bag.

asSet
-asSet

Creates a Set instance and adds the contents of the object to the set.

asOrdCltn
-asOrdCltn

Creates a OrdCltn instance and adds the contents of the object to the set.

detect:
-detect:aBlock

This message returns the first element in the receiver for which aBlock evaluates to something that is non-nil .  For example, the following :

[ aCltn detect: { :each | [each isEqual:anObject] } ];

Returns nil if there's no element for which aBlock evaluates to something that non-nil.

detect:ifNone:
-detect:aBlockifNone:noneBlock

This message returns the first element in the receiver for which aBlock evaluates to something that is non-nil.

Evaluates noneBlock if there's no element for which aBlock evaluates to something that is non-nil, and returns the return value of that block.  For example,

[ aCltn detect: { :e | [e isEqual:anObject]} ifNone: {anObject} ];

select:
-select:testBlock

This message will return a subset of the receiver containing all elements for which testBlock evaluates to an Object that is non-nil.  For example,

[ aCltn select: { :each | [each isEqual:anObject] } ];

Returns a new empty instance of the same class as the receiver, if there's no element for which testBlock evaluates to something that is non-nil. 

reject:
-reject:testBlock

Complement of select:

This message will return a subset of the receiver containing all elements for which testBlock evaluates to nil.  For example,

[ aCltn reject: { :each | [each isEqual:anObject] } ];

Returns a new empty instance of the same class as the receiver, if there's no element for which testBlock evaluates to nil.

collect:
-collect:transformBlock

This message creates and returns a new collection of the same size and type as the receiver. The elements are the result of performing transformBlock on each element in the receiver (elements for which the Block would return nil are filtered out).

count:
- (unsigned)count:aBlock

Evaluate aBlock with each of the receiver's elements as the argument.  Return the number that answered a non-nil value.

elementsPerform:
-elementsPerform:(SEL)aSelector

Send aSelector to all objects in the collection, starting from the object at offset 0.  For Stepstone compatibility.  Producer uses this.

elementsPerform:with:
-elementsPerform:(SEL)aSelectorwith:anObject

Send aSelector to all objects in the collection, starting from the object at offset 0.  For Stepstone compatibility.  Producer uses this.

elementsPerform:with:with:
-elementsPerform:(SEL)aSelectorwith:anObjectwith:otherObject

Send aSelector to all objects in the collection, starting from the object at offset 0.  For Stepstone compatibility.  Producer uses this.

elementsPerform:with:with:with:
-elementsPerform:(SEL)aSelectorwith:anObjectwith:otherObjectwith:thirdObj

Send aSelector to all objects in the collection, starting from the object at offset 0.  For Stepstone compatibility.  ICpak201 uses this.

do:
-do:aBlock

Evaluates aBlock for each element in the collection and returns self.  aBlock must be a block taking one object (element) as argument; the return value of the block is ignored by this method.

Often, the Block would, as a side-effect, modify a variable, as in:

int count = 0;
[contents do: { :what | if (what == anObject) count++; }];

do:until:
-do:aBlockuntil:(BOOL*)flag

Evaluates aBlock for each element in the collection, or until the variable pointed to by flag becomes true, and returns self.  aBlock must be a block taking one object (element) as argument; the return value of the block is ignored by this method.

Typically the Block will modify the variable flag when some condition holds:

BOOL found = NO;
[contents do:{ :what | if (what == findObject) found=YES;} until:&found];
if (found) { ... }