Question

What's the output?

function* generator(i) {
  yield i;
  yield i * 2;
}

const gen = generator(10);

console.log(gen.next().value);
console.log(gen.next().value);

• A: [0, 10], [10, 20]
• B: 20, 20
• C: 10, 20
• D: 0, 10 and 10, 20

Answer 1

Answer: C

Regular functions cannot be stopped mid-way after invocation. However, a generator function can be "stopped" midway, and later continue from where it stopped. Every time a generator function encounters a yield keyword, the function yields the value specified after it. Note that the generator function in that case doesn’t return the value, it yields the value.

First, we initialize the generator function with i equal to 10. We invoke the generator function using the next() method. The first time we invoke the generator function, i is equal to 10. It encounters the first yield keyword: it yields the value of i. The generator is now "paused", and 10 gets logged.

Then, we invoke the function again with the next() method. It starts to continue where it stopped previously, still with i equal to 10. Now, it encounters the next yield keyword, and yields i * 2. i is equal to 10, so it returns 10 * 2, which is 20. This results in 10, 20.