Section 4: Looping.

    Looping in C++ can be accomplished in three different ways. For loops repeat a specific number of times, while loops repeat while a given condition is true, and do...while loops do the same thing except they are guaranteed to be executed once.

    Note: Remember that true in C++ is not just 1. Any non-zero value is true!

For loops

   A for loop is defined as follows:

for(variable=startingvalue;a condition that remains true until the variable reaches a certain value;an increment or decrement value)

{

    statements;

}

    While that is a basic example, let's use a better example.

//Note that I declare the variable i inside the for loop. This is only legal in C++.

short j=0;

for(short i =0;i<5;i++) //While i is less than 5 the code will loop starting at i=0.

{

    j++;

}

    Note that it is very easy to create an infinite loop by just stating for(;;). This is legal, but not useful. Also, if you do not use braces in a for loop, the loop will execute the statement immediately after the for loop.

While loops

    A while loop is defined as follows:

while(conditionthatistrue)

{

    statements;

}

    To get out of a while loop, you need to make the condition that is true in the while loop false. This idea is important in making menus where a variable is polled for a certain value to get it out of a program.

Do...While Loops

   A do... loop is defined as follows:

do

{

    statements;

}while(conditionthatistrue);

    Remember that a semi-colon is required at the end of the do...while loop.

Break and Continue

    There are two statements that, when inserted into a loop affect it. If you insert break; into the inside of a loop, the loop will terminate no matter what. If you insert continue; into the interior of a loop, the loop will continue onto the next iteration.