IT1907

Looping
Loops
A loop refers to a construct that enables a program to execute a block of statements or a loop body repetitively as long as the
defined condition evaluates to true. Looping is used when an operation needs to repeat multiple times. The C# providesthree
(3) looping structures:
• while – This loop repeats a block of statements as long as a given condition evaluates to true. It evaluates the condition
first before executing the loop body.
• do…while – This is similar with while loop, except that it executes the block of statements before evaluating the given
condition regardless if it evaluates to true or false.
• for – This loop repeats a block of statement for a specified number of times.
The while Loop
The while loop repeats a block of statements as long as a given condition is true. The following is the general syntax of while
loop in C# including an example:
Syntax: For example:
while (condition) { //this will print a sequence of numbers from 1 to 10
//statements in loop body int start = 1;
} while (start <= 10) {
Console.WriteLine(start);
start++;
}
The condition can be a relational or logical expression that must return a true or false value. When the given condition in the
while loop evaluates to true, the loop body will execute and the condition is reevaluated. If the condition evaluates to true
again, the loop body will continue to execute until the given condition evaluates to false and the execution jumps to the
statements after the while loop.
In the given example, the initialized variable start is a loop control variable that is used to control the loop condition. The
while loop will print the numbers from 1 to 10. It is important to include statements within the loop that will update the loop
condition to false to terminate the loop execution. Otherwise, the loop body continues to execute endlessly. This is called
infinite loop. In the example, the statement start++; is used to update the condition on the while loop.
The do-while Loop
The do…while loop executes the loop body first before evaluating the given loop condition. The following is the general syntax
of do…while loop in C# including the example:
Syntax: For example:
do { //this will print a sequence of numbers from 1 to 10
//statements in loop body int start = 1;
} while (condition); do {
Console.WriteLine(start);
start++;
} while (start <= 10);
The do statement executes the loop body first, then evaluates the given condition in the while statement. If the condition
evaluates to false, the loop terminates. If it evaluates to true, then the loop body is executed again. This process repeats
until the given condition evaluates to false.
In the given example, the do statement executes the loop body first then evaluates the given condition in the whilestatement.
Similar with while loop, it is important to include statements within the loop body that will update the loop conditiontofalse
to terminate the loop execution.

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The for Loop
The for loop executes a block of statements for a specific number of times. This looping structure specifies the elements of
counter-controlled-repetition in a single line which includes these steps: initialization, condition, and the expressiontoupdate
the condition. The for loop in C# takes the following general syntax including an example:
Syntax: For example:
for (initialization; condition; update) { //this will print the numbers from 1 to 10
//statements in loop body for (int start = 1; start <= 10; start++) {
} Console.WriteLine(start);
}
The following is the flow of control of a for loop:
1. The initialization step is executed first, and it contains the starting value of the loop. This is executed only once.
2. The defined condition is then evaluated. If it evaluates to false, then the loop terminates and the loop body will not
be executed. However, if the condition evaluates to true:
Step A. The statements in the loop body is executed.
Step B. After executing the loop body, the flow of control jumps up to the update step to update the loop control
variable or condition.
Step C. The condition is reevaluated. If it evaluates to true, then repeat Step A. However, if it evaluates to false,
then the loop execution is terminated.
The break and continue Statements
Jump statements are used to change the flow of control of a looping structure. The break and continue statements are jump
statements in C#, and both are keywords. These are used to terminate a loop or skip some statements within the loop.
The break terminates a loop or a switch statement and transfers the flow of program execution to the statements following
the enclosing loop or switch statement. When the break statement is used in a nested loop, it only terminates the execution
of the innermost loop in which it appears. The following example shows how to implement a break statement in a loop:
Example:
for (int num = 1; num <= 10; num++) {
if (num == 5) {
break; //if this statement is executed the loop will stop
}
Console.Write(num + " ");
}
Output:
1 2 3 4
In the given example, the for loop will be terminated as soon as the value of variable num equals to 5.
The continue statement is used to skip the remaining statements in the loop body and immediately reevaluates the condition
if it’s a while or do…while loop, or it jumps to the update step if it’s a for loop. The following example shows how to implement
a continue statement in a loop:

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 IT1907

Example:
for (int num = 1; num <= 10; num++) {
if (num == 5 || num == 6) {
continue; //if this statement is executed it will ignore the print statement
below and the execution jumps back to the loop
}
Console.Write(num + " ");
}
Output:
1 2 3 4 7 8 9 10
In the given example, the continue within if statement is used to skip displaying the 5 and 6.
When implementing break or continue statements, they must be within a conditional statement, such as if…else
statement.

REFERENCES:
Deitel, P. and Deitel, H. (2015). Visual C# 2012 how to program (5th Ed.). USA: Pearson Education, Inc.
Gaddis, T. (2016). Starting out with visual C# (4th Ed.). USA: Pearson Education, Inc.
Harwani, B. (2015). Learning object-oriented programming in C# 5.0. USA: Cengage Learning PTR.
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