Asynchronous Data Processing in Swift with adjacentPairs()

Swift’s async/await paradigm has revolutionized how we handle asynchronous operations. The Swift Async Algorithms package takes this further by introducing powerful tools for manipulating asynchronous sequences. Today, I explain into one tool: adjacentPairs()

What is adjacentPairs()?

adjacentPairs() is an extension method AsyncSequence that allows us to iterate over adjacent pairs of elements in our asynchronous sequence. It returnsAsyncAdjacentPairsSequence, which yields tuples containing consecutive elements from the original sequence.

The AsyncAdjacentPairsSequence maintains an iterator that keeps track of the previous element, allowing it to form pairs as it progresses through the sequence.

Use Cases

Using adjacentPairs() with an async sequence for processing

This example efficiently processes pairs of numbers from an async sequence without creating intermediate collections.

let numbers = AsyncStream { continuation in
    for i in 1...5 {
        continuation.yield(i)
    }
    continuation.finish()
}

for await (prev, current) in numbers.adjacentPairs() {
    print("Difference between \(current) and \(prev) is \(current - prev)")
}
// Output:
// Difference between 2…