Iterator
An iterator is an object that contains a countable number of values and consists of the methods __iter__ and __next__.
- __iter__: This method is called when an iterator is required for a container. Must always return an iterator
- __next__: Return the next item from the container.
class MyIterator: def __init__(self, start, end): self.current = start self.end = end def __iter__(self): return self def __next__(self): if self.current >= self.end: raise StopIteration result = self.current self.current += 1 return result """For Loop through the MyIterator""" for num in MyIterator(1, 5): print(num)
Generator
Generator functions allow you to declare a function that behaves like an iterator (can be used in a for loop – without having to store values all at once in memory).
The next time next() is called on the generator iterator (i.e. in the next step in a for loop, for example), the generator resumes execution from where it called yield.
def MyGenerator(top): current = 0 while current < top: yield current current += 1 counter = MyGenerator(5) for it in counter: print(it)
A function with “yield” – generator. Both Iterator and Generator – to generate the sequence:
- The Iterator keeps value in self.
- The Generator uses local variables

Generators are more for concurrency code.
- generators are data producers
- coroutines are data consumers
Coroutine
def grep(pattern): print("start grep") try: while True: line = yield if pattern in line: print(line) except GeneratorExit: print("stop grep") # calling coroutine, nothing will happen g = grep("lol") # g.send(None) => start grep next(g) # sending inputs g.send("lol is in the line") g.send("no pattern in the line") # Exceptions can be thrown inside a coroutine at the point where the generator was paused g.throw("RuntimeError", "Something is wrong") # Close the coroutine - exception GeneratorExit g.close()
line 6 – yield is to the right – coroutine just waiting for data that should be sent to the coroutine (g.send command), main code continue to execute => g.send to send data to the coroutine.
Coroutine waits for data to work with from the main code by using .send(). to stop the coroutine execution: g.close() – it will generate GeneratorExit exception that could be used inside the coroutine:

Use yield from to execute one coroutine from another:
def grep(pattern): print("start grep") try: while True: line = yield if pattern in line: print(line) except GeneratorExit: print("stop grep") def grep_coroutine(): g = grep("lol") yield from g g = grep_coroutine() next(g) # g.send(None) => start grep g.send("lol is in the line") g.send("no pattern in the line") g.close()
How coroutine is different from threads, both seem to do the same job:
- in case of threads, it’s an operating system that switches between threads according to the scheduler
- in case of a coroutine, it’s the programmer and programming language which decides when to switch coroutines