Lecture 3:

Branching and Iterations in Python

Dr. Naveen Saini

Assistant Professor,
Department of Technology Studies,
Endicott College of International Studies,
Woosong University,
Daejeon, South Korea
Dr. Naveen Saini | ECIS 1
naveensaini@wsu.ac.kr
Any question about the previous
lectures????

Dr. Naveen Saini | ECIS 2

 Working with Google Colab
Google Colab or “the Colaboratory” is a free cloud service hosted by Google to
encourage Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence research, where often the
barrier to learning and success is the requirement of tremendous computational
power.

Create a Colab Notebook

1.Open Google Colab.
2.Click on ‘New Notebook’ and select Python 2 notebook or
Python 3 notebook.

OR

1.Open Google Drive.

2.Create a new folder for the project.
3.Click on ‘New’ > ‘More’ > ‘Colaboratory’.
4.Type of the name of your opened file and start
programming.
 An Example program using Google Colab

Program to add numbers from 1 to n, where n is input by

user.
If right clear, If right blocked, If right and If right , front,
go right go forward front blocked, left blocked,
go left go back

6.0001 LECTURE 2 10
 CONTROL FLOW - BRANCHING
if <condition>: if <condition>:
<expression> <expression>
<expression> <expression>
... ...
elif <condition>:
if <condition>: <expression>
<expression> <expression>
<expression> ...
... else:
else: <expression>
<expression> <expression>
<expression> ...
...

 <condition> has a value True or False

 evaluate expressions in that block if <condition> is True

6.0001 LECTURE 2 11
INDENTATION
 matters in Python
 how you denote blocks of code
x = float(input("Enter a number for x: "))
y = float(input("Enter a number for y: "))
if x == y:
print("x and y are equal")
if y != 0:
print("therefore, x / y is", x/y)
elif x < y:
print("x is smaller")
else:
print("y is smaller")
print("thanks!")

6.0001 LECTURE 2 12
= vs ==
x = float(input("Enter a number for x: "))
y = float(input("Enter a number for y: "))
if x == y:
print("x and y are equal")
if y != 0:
print("therefore, x / y is", x/y)
elif x < y:
print("x is smaller")
else:
print("y is smaller")
print("thanks!")

6.0001 LECTURE 2 13
  Legend of Zelda –
Lost Woods
 keep going right,
takes you back to this
same screen, stuck in
a loop
Image Courtesy Nintendo, All Rights Reserved. This content is excluded from our Creative
Commons license. For more information, see http://ocw.mit.edu/help/faq-fair-use/.
if <exit right>:
<set background to woods_background>
if <exit right>:
<set background to woods_background>
if <exit right>:
<set background to woods_background>
and so on and on and on...
else:
<set background to exit_background>
else:
<set background to exit_background>
else:
<set background to exit_background>

6.0001 LECTURE 2 14
  Legend of Zelda –
Lost Woods
 keep going right,
takes you back to this
same screen, stuck in
a loop
Word Cloud copyright unknown, All Right Reserved. This content is excluded from our Creative
Commons license. For more information, see http://ocw.mit.edu/help/faq-fair-use/.

while <exit right>:

<set background to woods_background>
<set background to exit_background>

6.0001 LECTURE 2 15
CONTROL FLOW:
while LOOPS
while <condition>:
<expression>
<expression>
...
 <condition> evaluates to a Boolean
 if <condition> is True, do all the steps inside the
while code block
 check <condition> again
 repeat until <condition> is False

6.0001 LECTURE 2 16
while LOOP EXAMPLE
You are in the Lost Forest.
************
************

************
************
Go left or right?

PROGRAM:

n = input("You're in the Lost Forest. Go left or right? ")

while n == "right":
n = input("You're in the Lost Forest. Go left or right? ")
print("You got out of the Lost Forest!")

6.0001 LECTURE 2 17
CONTROL FLOW:
while and for LOOPS
 iterate through numbers in a sequence

# more complicated with while loop

n = 0
while n < 5:
print(n)
n = n+1

# shortcut with for loop

for n in range(5):
print(n)

6.0001 LECTURE 2 18
CONTROL FLOW: for LOOPS
for <variable> in range(<some_num>):
<expression>
<expression>
...

 each time through the loop, <variable> takes a value

 first time, <variable> starts at the smallest value
 next time, <variable> gets the prev value + 1
 etc.
6.0001 LECTURE 2 19
range(start,stop,step)
 default values are start = 0 and step = 1 and optional
 loop until value is stop - 1

mysum = 0
for i in range(7, 10):
mysum += i
print(mysum)

mysum = 0
for i in range(5, 11, 2):
mysum += i
print(mysum)

6.0001 LECTURE 2 20
break STATEMENT
 immediately exits whatever loop it is in
 skips remaining expressions in code block
 exits only innermost loop!

while <condition_1>:
while <condition_2>:
<expression_a>
break
<expression_b>
<expression_c>
6.0001 LECTURE 2 21
break STATEMENT
mysum = 0
for i in range(5, 11, 2):
mysum += i
if mysum == 5:
break
mysum += 1
print(mysum)

 what happens in this program?

6.0001 LECTURE 2 22
for VS while LOOPS
for loops while loops
 know number of  unbounded number of
iterations iterations
 can end early via  can end early via break
break  can use a counter but
must initialize before loop
 uses a counter and increment it inside loop
 can rewrite a for loop  may not be able to
using a while loop rewrite a while loop using
a for loop

6.0001 LECTURE 2 23
 Practical Session

My Google Colab Link

https://colab.research.google.com/drive/18ZNM_Neid
gybLvaONy753jhcxwtHzee1?usp=sharing

Dr. Naveen Saini | ECIS 1

 Multiple Ways To Print Blank Line in Python
#using print() for empty lines #using print() with newline character
for empty lines
str = 'latracal Solutions'
s = 'is the best website' str = 'latracal'
s = 'solutions' Output:
Output:
print(str) latracal Solutions latracal Solutions
print() print(str,"\n")
print(s) is the best website print(s) is the best website

#using print() with single quotes for

empty lines #using print() with newline character
with * for multiple empty lines
str = 'latracal' str = 'latracal'
s = 'solutions' s = 'solutions' Output:
Output: latracal
print(str) latracal Solutions print(str)
print('') print(5 * "\n")
print(s) is the best website print(s)

#using print() with single quotes for

solutions
empty lines

str = 'latracal'
s = 'solutions'
Output:
print(str) latracal Solutions
print('')
print(s) is the best website
 for loop example

Program to add numbers from 1 to n, where n is input by

user.
n=int(input('Enter +ve integer='))
sum=0
if n>=0:
#upto but not including second argument of range
for i in range(1,n+1):
sum+=i
print('Sum=',sum)
else:
print('Illegal input')
 for loop example
Input five numbers from users and find the minimum and
largest number.
# take three numbers from user
num1 = float(input("Enter first number: "))
num2 = float(input("Enter second number: "))
num3 = float(input("Enter third number: "))
num4 = float(input("Enter third number: "))
num5 = float(input("Enter third number: "))

if (num1 > num2) and (num1 > num3):

largest = num1
elif (num2 > num1) and (num2 > num3): if (num1 < num2) and (num1 < num3):
largest = num2 Minimum = num1
else: elif (num2 < num1) and (num2 < num3):
largest = num3 Minimum = num2
else:
print("The largest number is",largest) Minimum = num3

print("The minimum number is", Minimum)

 while loop example
Program to print the number of digits in an integer - no
leading 0s.
i=int (input('Enter an integer:'))
if i<0:
i=-i
noOfDigits=0
if i==0:
noOfDigits=1
else:
while i>0:
noOfDigits+=1
i=i//10
print('No of digits= ',noOfDigits)
 Nested for loop
• for loops can be nested within themselves. The syntax
below shows a 1-level nested for loop.
• Example:
for in n:
# piece of code goes here
for in n:
# piece of code goes here

Let’s use the nested for

loop to print the following for i in range(1, 6):
pattern:
# outer loop
for j in range(i):
1 # 1st level inner loop
22 print(i, “ “)
333 print('\n')
4444
55555 To enter into next line To keep space
between numbers
 Nested while loop
• for loops can be nested within themselves. The syntax below shows a
1-level nested for loop.
• Syntax:
while condition:
# piece of code goes here
while condition:
# piece of code goes here

i = 0 # initialize to zero for outer loop

Let’s use the nested for j = 0 # initialize to zero for inner loop
loop to print the following As there are 5 lines
pattern: while i <= 5:
# outer loop runs n times
while j < i:
* # inner loop runs i times
** print(‘*’, end=‘ ‘)
*** j += 1 # increment before checking inner loop condition
j=0 # re-initialize after leaving inner loop
**** i += 1 # increment before checking outer loop condition
***** print(‘ ')
To insert empty line
 Program-1
• Write a python program to enter a number from user and check whether that
number is prime or not using
• (a) if-else conditions
• (b) for loop.
# To take input from the user
num = int(input("Enter a number: ")) # To take input from the user
# define a flag variable num = int(input("Enter a number: "))
flag = False
# prime numbers are greater than 1
# prime numbers are greater than 1 if num > 1:
if num > 1: # check for factors
# check for factors for i in range(2,num):
for i in range(2, num): if (num % i) == 0:
if (num % i) == 0: print(num,"is not a prime numb
# if factor is found, set flag to er")
True print(i,"times",num//i,"is",nu
flag = True m)
# break out of loop break
break else:
print(num,"is a prime number")
# check if flag is True
if flag: # if input number is less than
print(num, "is not a prime number") # or equal to 1, it is not prime
else: else:
print(num, "is a prime number") print(num,"is not a prime number")
 Program-2
• Write a python program print Fibonacci series upto nth term

What is Fibonacci series

HINT: Use if-else conditions and for/while loop

 References of Today’s lecture

1. Lecture Slides and Code | Introduction to Computer Science and

Programming in Python | Electrical Engineering and Computer Science |
MIT OpenCourseWare

2. lec3and4.pdf (iitk.ac.in)
Any Queries??
Email ID: naveensaini@wsu.ac.kr