C Programming For Dummies, 2nd Edition

Chapter 9

Loops, Loops, Loops

IN THIS CHAPTER

Understanding loops

Exploring the for loop

Creating nested for loops

Working a while loop

Using a do while loop

Avoiding the endless loop

Programs love to do things over and over, mirthfully so. They never complain, they never tire. In fact, they’ll repeat things forever unless you properly code instructions for when to stop. Indeed, the loop is a basic programming concept. Do it well. Do it well. Do it well.

A Little Déjà Vu

A loop is a section of code that repeats. How often? That depends on how you write the loop. As an overview, a loop involves three things:

• Initialization
• One or more statements that repeat
• An exit

The initialization sets up the loop, usually specifying a condition upon which the loop begins or is activated. For example, “Start the counter at 1.”

The statements that repeat are contained as a block in curly brackets. ...