I see some of them as friends. Macros in general (and FOREACH in particular) are in most cases only usability helpers (there is also configuration switched domain, but it's beside the point). And until language provide as-convenient alternatives I am ready to accept the macro nature of these tools.
I'm ready to accept them too, when they do something worth while. This one doesn't.
Well, IYO :o). IMO it does. There are two things that give FOREACH an advantage: (1) optional immutability of the value being iterated (and, to my happiness, less syntax means more safety! yay!); (2) immutability of the iterator itself. Statistically---but please don't make me dig a reference to that one :o)---most bugs are due to loops. The C for loop is the most general loop; that's what also makes it the least structured. The fact that the loop control sits in the header of the for statement is only a mere convention, and, sadly, often an illusion to the beginner, unwary, or maintainer :o). In contrast, FOREACH's header makes a much stronger statement about the nature of the loop, and that brings structure. You look at a line of code and you have some pretty good assurance about the nature of the loop. That's where IMHO most of its value comes from. Syntactic convenience is a good artifact, but it should be seen as not much more than a fringe benefit. Andrei