how do generators work

Generators are special kinds of functions in programming that can produce a sequence of values one at a time, pausing between each value instead of computing everything at once.

What a generator is

• A generator is like an iterator with memory: it remembers where it left off each time you ask for the “next” value.

• Any function that uses a yield statement (in languages like Python or JavaScript) is treated as a generator function instead of a normal function.

How generators work internally

• When you call a generator function, you do not immediately run its body; you get back a generator/iterator object that holds its internal state (local variables, position in the code).

• Each time you call something like next(...) or iterate with a loop, the generator resumes execution right after the last yield, runs until the next yield, then pauses again and returns that value.

Simple mental model

• Normal function: runs from start to finish once, returns a single result, and then forgets everything.

• Generator function: runs until a yield, hands you one value, pauses with its stack frame “frozen,” and can resume later to yield more values.

Why generators are useful

• They are memory‑efficient for large or infinite sequences because they only compute the next value when needed, rather than building a whole list in memory.

• They fit naturally with loops and streaming data (files, network responses, paginated APIs, etc.) where processing happens item by item.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.