I'm reading a programming book and found the following paragraph.
Collections do not usually implement enumerators; instead, they
provide enumerators, via the interface IEnumerable:public interface IEnumerable { IEnumerator GetEnumerator(); }By defining a single method retuning an enumerator, IEnumerable
provides flexibility in that the iteration logic can be farmed off to
another class. Moreover, it means that several consumers can enumerate
the collection at once without interfering with one another. You can
think of IEnumerable as “IEnumeratorProvider,” and it is the most
basic interface that collection classes implement.
What does "farmed off" mean? Is it a common English usage? From the context I guess it probably means "moved", but I can't find this it in the dictionary.
Update (3/27/2021)
I've written an email to the author of the book and below is his reply.
Yes, it was intentional. However, "farm out" has more matches on Google, so I'm happy to switch to that.
So it seems "farm off" has its use in some parts of the US.
Best Answer
You're thinking along the right track when you say it means "moved." Personally I haven't ever heard the term "farm off;" I think the author probably meant "farm out."