Loops

Computers are like robots. They are good at doing things over and over and over and over again.

A LOOP is when we ask a program to do something many times.

while

The simplest loop in JavaScript is while.

while (someCondition) {
    someAction()
}

In English this reads, "While some condition is true, do some action".

while true

If you want something to keep going forever, set condition to true:

while (true) {
  console.log("Hello")
}

This means "While true is true, say 'Hello'". Obviously true will always be true, so it goes forever.

To stop it, hold down the CONTROL key and press the C key.

This is called an infinite loop.

Note well! The lines between { and } are INDENTED. Indentation is very important to you and other humans. It lets our eyes follow the patterns and helps us quickly see what parts of the program go with each other.

One Infinite Loop

Fun Fact: The address of Apple HQ is

1 Infinite Loop
Cupertino, CA 95014

Image from the Wikimedia Commons, licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license. Attribution: Joe Ravi

Infinite Counting

Let's write a program that counts from 0 to infinity. Put this in a file called count.js.

let count = 0;
while (true) {
    console.log(count);
    count = count + 1;
}

Run the program with node count.js.

Remember, CONTROL-C means "Stop everything!!!"

LAB: Who wants to loop forever?

Next, we will change your count.js program so that it only counts to 100.

Please try this yourself! But it's kind of tricky, so on the next slide I'll show you one solution.

Solution: Who wants to loop forever?

Did your program stop at 100, 101, or 99?

while

• The while statement keeps checking the expression

  • if it's true then it loops back
  • if it's false then it stops looping and goes on to the rest of the program

This is fairly complicated, so let's stop here and make sure to understand everything that's happening in this little program.

while breakdown (pt.1)

let count = 1

creates a variable named count and sets its value to 1.

while (count <= 100)

starts a loop and immediately compares count to 100.

1 is less than 100, so the expression is true, so we continue with the block of code starting with the {.

while breakdown (pt.2)

  console.log(count);

prints the current value of count.

  count = count + 1

increments the count variable... it was 1, so now it's 2

}

goes back to the while line and checks again

while breakdown (pt.3)

while (count <= 100)

compares count to 100.

2 is less than 100, so the expression is true, so we continue with the loop.

Eventually, count becomes 101, and the while expression is false, and so we stop looping and go on.

break dancing

The magic word break stops a loop immediately.

Here's a more verbose way of counting to 100:

let count = 0;
while (true) {
    console.log(count);
    count = count + 1;
    if (count > 100) {
        break;
    }
}

Different Kinds of Loops

While the while loop is arguably the most straightforward, and widely used loop in JavaScript it's not the only type of loop. JavaScript inherited the for loop from C; it's cumbersome and confusing but you should learn to recognize it.

for (var i=0; i < 8; i++) {
  console.log(poemLine(i));
}

Flavors of For

There are also a couple variations on the for loop that can be used to iterate over different data structures. These types of loops are known collectively as iterators, the most comon of which are the for ...in loop, and the for ...of loop. More on those later!

LAB: One Potato

Remember this poem?

1 potato,
2 potato,
3 potato,
4!
5 potato,
6 potato,
7 potato,
More!

Please write a program called potato.js that prints that poem, using loops.

(No, you can't just print the entire poem as a single string; that would be cheating.)

Many Potatoes, Many Solutions

Remember, there's always more than one solution to any problem! Don't get fixated on finding the One Right Answer.

"The strategy is definitely: first make it work, then make it right, and, finally, make it fast." - Brian Kernighan, creator of the C programming language

In the next slides we will examine several different ways to write the One Potato program.

Note: changing the design of a program that's already working correctly is called refactoring

functional decomposition

The first thing we'll do is decompose the problem into two smaller problems:

1. counting from 1 to 8
2. printing the correct message for each line

Decomposition is one of the most important skills in programming. It lets you focus.

Also known as "divide and conquer".

Introducing a function is the most straightforward way to embody a smaller task.

Modular Decomposition song by Eric Siegel, Ph.D.

Fake it till you make it

Functional decomposition is also a great way to write a program that you haven't quite figured out yet.

When you reach a step that you don't know how to do, or just don't want to think about right now, call a function that you haven't written yet.

Then later on -- only after the parent function is written -- go back and make the faked-out function work.

counting potatoes

Let's separate formatting from counting.

This function does one thing only: create the correct string for a given line number.

function poemLine(lineNumber) {
    if (lineNumber === 8) {
        return "More!"
    } else if (lineNumber === 4) {
        return "4!"
    } else {
        return lineNumber + " potato,"
    }
}

Now that we have an isolated formatting function, let's look at different ways to do looping.

while true

let i = 1;
while (true) {
    console.log(poemLine(i));
    i = i + 1;
    if (i > 8) {
        break;
    }
}

while

let i = 1;
while (i <= 8) {
    console.log(poemLine(i));
    i = i + 1;
}

LAB: Prime Numbers

A prime number is one that is only divisible by itself and 1.

The goal of this lab is to print all (and only) the prime numbers between 2 and 100.

To do this, your code will probably need to use one or the other, or both, of these:

• nested functions - functions that call other functions
• nested loops - loops that contain other loops

Prime Numbers solution