Lesson 11: Infinite and Finite Loops - C Tutorial Seems to me that submitting new lessons every two days

became a rutine lately. Lets hope it stays that way. Today I posted new lesson which will put some light on programming loops - you surely have heard about those. So from now on, when you watch Futurama and hear Beneder blabring something about being stuck in an infinite loop, youll understand his problem in details: from one to zero. Hehe, lets start... Iteration with previously known number of repeats. Syntax: for (expression1; expression2; expression3) { . . . }

expression1 is an expression which will be executed only once, before entering into the first iteration. Its most commonly used for counters initialization. If more then one expression is needed in this field, they are separated by comma. expression2 is calculated as logical condition (0 - false, !=0 - true), and the iteration is executed number of times expression2 is true. Testing of condition is done before any iteration is processed. expression3 is executed after each iteration (executed loop). Its most common use is to increase counters value. If more then one expression is needed to be executed, they are separated by comma. either one of expressions (expression1; expression2; expression3) can be left out. If expression 2 is left out, loop is executed as if logical value of the expression were TRUE.

Common use: for (i = start; i <= end; i = i + k) { . . . }

Example of for loop with 2 counters: for (hi = 100, lo = 0; hi >= lo; hi--, lo++) { . . . }

Example: Write your own program that will calculate arithmetic middle of n given numbers.

#include <stdio.h>void main() { int i, n, sum, x; float arit_midd; prin tf("For how many numbers do you wish to calc. their arithmetic middle : "); sc anf("%d", &n ); sum = 0; for(i=0; i<n; i++) { printf("Give %d. number : ", i); scanf("%d", &x); sum += x; } arit_midd = (float) sum / n; printf("Arithmetic middle of scanned numbers is %f\n", arit_midd); }

Example: Write your own program which will print real numbers from 0 till n, with step of 0.1 #include <stdio.h>void main() { int n; float i; r do you wish report to be printed on screen :"); i=0; i<=n; i=i+0.1 ) { printf("%f\n",i); printf("Until which numbe scanf("%d", &n ); for( }}

Example: Write your own program which will print numbers dividable with 7, 13 and 19, and lower than given number n. Numbers must be printed from biggest to the lowest one. #include <stdio.h>void main() { int i, n; printf("Give number n : ") ; scanf("%d", &n ); for( i=n; i > 0; i-- ) { if ( i % 7 == 0 ) || ( i % 13 == 0 ) || (i % 19 == 0) { printf(" %d \n", i); } }} Warning: for(;;); // infinite loop or for(;;){ //block of orders } Block of orders inside the body of loop is executed infinite number of times if that block doesnt consist of: breaking order (break), order for escaping the function (return), program finish function call (exit) or goto order.

Common Mistakes:

Iteration (loop) which tests condition at the end. Syntax: do { . . . } while (expression);

loop is executed while condition is true, for example this is different in Pascal, where loop is executed until expression becomes true (means it keeps executing while condition is false) loop will be executed minimum once (first test of condition comes after first run through the loop) Example in C: do { . . . } while (x < y);

Same example in Pascal: repeat . . . until ( x >= y )

Example Write your own program that reads numbers from interval [-100, 100] or [800, 1000]. Program has to print how much of these numbers were positive, how much of them were negative and how much times 0 encountered. Program has to be written using do while loop. #include <stdio.h>void main(){ int number; int nrPositive=0, nrNegative=0, nrZero=0; printf("Give in numbers: "); do { scanf("%d", &numb er); if (number >=-100 && number <=100 || number >=800 && number <=1000) { if (!number) nrZero ++; else if (number >0) nrPositi ve ++; else nrNegative ++; } }while (number >=-100 && numb er <=100 || number >=800 && number <=1000); printf("Number of positive n umber %d, number of negative numbers %d, number of zeroes %d\n", nrPositi ve, nrNegative, nrZero);}

Example Following program block: k=0; d\n", k); i=7;lab: k=k+i*2; if (i >= -7) goto lab; i=i-2; printf ("%

should be replaced with following loop:

Loop that tests condition at start Loop that tests condition at the end Loop that has previously known number of repeats Solved: 1.)k=0;i=7;while (i>=-7) { k=k+i*2; i=i-2; ", k);}2.)k=0;i=7;do { k=k+i*2; i=i-2; ;} while(i >= -7);3.)for (i = 7, k = 0; i >= -7; i-=2){ printf ("%d\n", k);} printf ("%d\n printf ("%d\n", k) k = k + i * 2;

Warning: if its initialized that i < -7, 1. and 3. loop wont be executed neither once, but 2. loop will be executed once. Advantage of for loop: its starting counters initialization, testing of condition and counters step, all are placed in one place in programmers code. This can be really practical.

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