3. Now we'll talk about another way to implement the `make_fringe_enumerator` function above (and so too the `same_fringe` function which uses it). Notice that the pattern given above is that the `make_fringe_enumerator` creates a `next_leaf` function and an initial state, and each time you want to advance the `next_leaf` by one step, you do so by calling it with the current state. It will return a leaf label plus a modified state, which you can use when you want to call it again and take another step. All of the `next_leaf` function's memory about where it is in the enumeration is contained in the state. If you saved an old state, took three steps, and then called the `next_leaf` function again with the saved old state, it would be back where it was three steps ago. But in fact, the way we use the `next_leaf` function and state above, there is no back-tracking. Neither do we "fork" any of the states and pursue different forward paths. Their progress is deterministic, and fixed independently of anything that `same_fringe` might do. All that's up to `same_fringe` is to take the decision of when (and whether) to take another step forward.
Given that usage pattern, it would be appropriate and convenient to make the `next_leaf` function remember its state itself, in a mutable variable. The client function `same_fringe` doesn't need to do anything with, or even be given access to, this variable. Here's how we might write `make_fringe_enumerator` according to this plan:
3. Now we'll talk about another way to implement the `make_fringe_enumerator` function above (and so too the `same_fringe` function which uses it). Notice that the pattern given above is that the `make_fringe_enumerator` creates a `next_leaf` function and an initial state, and each time you want to advance the `next_leaf` by one step, you do so by calling it with the current state. It will return a leaf label plus a modified state, which you can use when you want to call it again and take another step. All of the `next_leaf` function's memory about where it is in the enumeration is contained in the state. If you saved an old state, took three steps, and then called the `next_leaf` function again with the saved old state, it would be back where it was three steps ago. But in fact, the way we use the `next_leaf` function and state above, there is no back-tracking. Neither do we "fork" any of the states and pursue different forward paths. Their progress is deterministic, and fixed independently of anything that `same_fringe` might do. All that's up to `same_fringe` is to take the decision of when (and whether) to take another step forward.
Given that usage pattern, it would be appropriate and convenient to make the `next_leaf` function remember its state itself, in a mutable variable. The client function `same_fringe` doesn't need to do anything with, or even be given access to, this variable. Here's how we might write `make_fringe_enumerator` according to this plan: