Topic 14

while loops and loop patterns

"Given enough eyeballs, all bugs are shallow
(e.g., given a large enough beta-tester and
co-developer base, almost every problem will
be characterized quickly and the fix obvious
to someone)."
-Linus's Law, by Eric Raymond

Copyright Pearson Education, 2010

Based on slides bu Marty Stepp and Stuart Reges
from http://www.buildingjavaprograms.com/
 A deceptive problem...
Write a method printNumbers that prints
each number from 1 to a given maximum,
separated by commas.

For example, the call:

printNumbers(5)

should print:
1, 2, 3, 4, 5
 Flawed solutions
public static void printNumbers(int max) {
for (int i = 1; i <= max; i++) {
System.out.print(i + ", ");
}
System.out.println(); // to end the line of output
}
Output from printNumbers(5): 1, 2, 3, 4, 5,

public static void printNumbers(int max) {

for (int i = 1; i <= max; i++) {
System.out.print(", " + i);
}
System.out.println(); // to end the line of output
}
Output from printNumbers(5): , 1, 2, 3, 4, 5
 Fence post analogy
We print n numbers but need only n - 1 commas.
Similar to building a fence with wires separated by
posts:
If we use a flawed algorithm that repeatedly places a
post + wire, the last post will have an extra dangling wire.

for (length of fence) {

place a post.
place some wire.
}
 Fencepost loop
Add a statement outside the loop to place
the initial "post."
Also called a fencepost loop or a "loop-and-a-
half" solution.

place a post.
for (length of fence - 1) {
place some wire.
place a post.
}
 Fencepost method solution
public static void printNumbers(int max) {
System.out.print(1);
for (int i = 2; i <= max; i++) {
System.out.print(", " + i);
}
System.out.println(); // to end the line
}

Alternate solution: Either first or last "post" can be taken out:

public static void printNumbers(int max) {
for (int i = 1; i <= max - 1; i++) {
System.out.print(i + ", ");
}
System.out.println(max);// to end the line
}
 Fencepost question
Modify your method printNumbers into a
new method printPrimes that prints all
prime numbers up to a max.
Example: printPrimes(50) prints
2, 3, 5, 7, 11, 13, 17, 19, 23, 29, 31, 37, 41, 43,
47

If the maximum is less than 2, print no output.

To help you, write a method countFactors

which returns the number of factors of a
given integer.
countFactors(20) returns 6 due to factors 1, 2, 4, 5, 10, 20.
 Fencepost answer
// Prints all prime numbers up to the given max.
public static void printPrimes(int max) {
if (max >= 2) {
System.out.print("2");
for (int i = 3; i <= max; i++) {
if (countFactors(i) == 2) {
System.out.print(", " + i);
}
}
System.out.println();
}
}
// Returns how many factors the given number has.
public static int countFactors(int number) {
int count = 0;
for (int i = 1; i <= number; i++) {
if (number % i == 0) {
count++; // i is a factor of number
}
}
return count;
}
while loops

reading: 5.1
 Categories of loops
definite loop: Executes a known number of times.
The for loops we have seen are definite loops.
Print "hello" 10 times.
Find all the prime numbers up to an integer n.
Print each odd number between 5 and 127.
indefinite loop: One where the number of times its
body repeats is not known in advance.
Prompt the user until they type a non-negative
number.
Print random numbers until a prime number is printed.
Repeat until the user has typed "q" to quit.
 The while loop
while loop: Repeatedly executes its
body as long as a logical test is true.
while (<test>) {
<statement(s)>;
}

Example:
int num = 1; // initialization
while (num <= 200) { // test
System.out.print(num + " ");
num = num * 2; // update
}
// output: 1 2 4 8 16 32 64 128
 Example while loop
// finds the first factor of 91, other than 1
int n = 91;
int factor = 2;
while (n % factor != 0) {
factor++;
}
System.out.println("First factor is " +
factor);
// output: First factor is 7

while is better than for because we don't know how

many times we will need to increment to find the factor.
 clicker
What is output by the following code?
int sum = 0;
int limit = 60;
int val = 1;
while(val < limit) {
sum++;
}
System.out.print(sum);
A. 0 B. 60 C. 61
D. No output due to syntax error
E. No output due to some other reason
 Sentinel values
sentinel: A value that signals the end of user input.
sentinel loop: Repeats until a sentinel value is
seen.
Example: Write a program that prompts the
user for text until the user types nothing, then
output the total number of characters typed.
(In this case, the empty string is the sentinel
value.)

Type a line (or nothing to exit): hello

Type a line (or nothing to exit): this is a line
Type a line (or nothing to exit):
You typed a total of 19 characters.
 Solution?
Scanner console = new Scanner(System.in);
int sum = 0;
String response = "dummy"; // "dummy" value, anything but ""

while (!response.equals("")) {
System.out.print("Type a line (or nothing to exit): ");
response = console.nextLine();
sum += response.length();
}

System.out.println("You typed a total of " + sum + "

characters.");
 Changing the sentinel value
Modify your program to use "quit" as the
sentinel value.
Example log of execution:
Type a line (or "quit" to exit): hello|
Type a line (or "quit" to exit): this is a line
Type a line (or "quit" to exit): quit
You typed a total of 19 characters.
 Changing the sentinel value
Changing the sentinel's value to "quit"
does not work!
Scanner console = new Scanner(System.in);
int sum = 0;
String response = "dummy"; // "dummy" value, anything but "quit"

while (!response.equals("quit")) {
System.out.print("Type a line (or \"quit\" to exit): ");
response = console.nextLine();
sum += response.length();
}
System.out.println("You typed a total of " + sum + "
characters.");

This solution produces the wrong output.

Why?
You typed a total of 23 characters.
 The problem with the code
The code uses a pattern like this:
sum = 0.
while (input is not the sentinel) {
prompt for input; read input.
add input length to the sum.
}
 problem with code
On the last pass, the sentinels length
(4) is added to the sum:
prompt for input; read input ("quit").
add input length (4) to the sum.

This is a fencepost problem.

Must read N lines, but only sum the
lengths of the first N-1.
 A fencepost solution
sum = 0.
prompt for input; read input. // place a "post"

while (input is not the sentinel) {

add input length to the sum. // place a "wire"
prompt for input; read input. // place a "post"
}

Sentinel loops often utilize a fencepost "loop-

and-a-half" style solution by pulling some
code out of the loop.
 Correct code
Scanner console = new Scanner(System.in);
int sum = 0;

// pull one prompt/read ("post") out of the loop

System.out.print("Type a line (or \"quit\" to exit): ");
String response = console.nextLine();

while (!response.equals("quit")) {
sum += response.length(); // moved to top of loop
System.out.print("Type a line (or \"quit\" to exit):
");
response = console.nextLine();
}

System.out.println("You typed a total of " + sum + "

characters.");
 Sentinel as a constant
public static final String SENTINEL = "quit";
...

Scanner console = new Scanner(System.in);

int sum = 0;

// pull one prompt/read ("post") out of the loop

System.out.print("Type a line (or \"" + SENTINEL + "\" to exit): ");
String response = console.nextLine();

while (!response.equals(SENTINEL)) {
sum += response.length(); // moved to top of loop
System.out.print("Type a line (or \"" + SENTINEL + "\" to exit): ");
response = console.nextLine();
}

System.out.println("You typed a total of " + sum + " characters.");

 examples
write a method to improve checking if a
number is prime or not
when can we stop?
Write a program that flips a coin until there is
a run of 10 flips of the same side in a row
how many flips were there before 10 in a row?
repeat the experiment 1000 times, what is the
average number of flips