I like this idea, but would certainly prefer it to be an expression (your alternative suggestion, array comprehension) rather than a statement. Your example of building an array of tuples [(suit, rank)] could then be achieved without having to append to a var during iteration.
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Yes, it’d be great if you can combine it with where. Alternatively, it could be interesting to instead explore array comprehension syntax, rather than making `for` smarter. That’d allow for a more functional style. For example, Norvig’s spelling corrector (http://norvig.com/spell-correct.html\) would then be very straightforward to port.
Re the x operator: it’s even easier if you define it with flatMap. However, the for syntax is different, because the second clause can depend on the first...
Chris