Chapter 4

Repetition Structures

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Topics

• Introduction to Repetition Structures

• The while Loop: a Condition-
Controlled Loop
• The for Loop: a Count-Controlled
Loop
• Calculating a Running Total
• Sentinels
• Input Validation Loops
• Nested Loops
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Introduction to Repetition
Structures
• Often have to write code that performs the
same task multiple times
 Disadvantages to duplicating code
 Makes program large
 Time consuming
 May need to be corrected in many places

• Repetition structure: makes computer repeat

included code as necessary
 Includes condition-controlled loops and count-
controlled loops

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The while Loop: a Condition-
Controlled Loop (1 of 4)
• while loop: while condition is true, do
something
 Two parts:
 Condition tested for true or false value
 Statements repeated as long as condition
is true
 Inflow chart, line goes back to previous
part
 General format:
while condition:
statements
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The while Loop: a Condition-Controlled
Loop (2 of 4)

Figure 4-1 The logic of a while loop

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The while Loop: a Condition-
Controlled Loop (3 of 4)
• In order for a loop to stop executing,
something has to happen inside the loop to
make the condition false
• Iteration: one execution of the body of a
loop
• while loop is known as a pretest loop
 Tests condition before performing an
iteration
 Willnever execute if condition is false to start
with
 Requires performing some steps prior to the
loop
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The while Loop:
a Condition-
Controlled Loop
(4 of 4)

Figure 4-3 Flowchart for Program 4-1

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Solution to previous flowchart

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# This program calculates sales commissions.
# Create a variable to control the loop.
keep_going = 'y'
# Calculate a series of commissions.
while keep_going == 'y':
# Get a salesperson's sales and commission rate.
sales = float(input('Enter the amount of sales: '))
comm_rate = float(input('Enter the commission rate: '))
# Calculate the commission.
commission = sales * comm_rate
# Display the commission.
print(f'The commission is ${commission:,.2f}.')
# See if the user wants to do another one.
keep_going = input('Do you want to calculate another ' +
'commission (Enter y for yes): ')

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Infinite Loops

• Loops must contain within themselves a

way to terminate
 Something inside a while loop must
eventually make the condition false

• Infinite loop: loop that does not have a

way of stopping
 Repeats until program is interrupted
 Occurs when programmer forgets to
include stopping code in the loop

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The for Loop: a Count-
Controlled Loop (1 of 2)
• Count-Controlled loop: iterates a specific
number of times
 Use a for statement to write count-
controlled loop
 Designed to work with sequence of data items
 Iterates once for each item in the sequence
 General format:
for variable in [val1, val2, etc]:
statements
 Target variable: the variable which is the
target of the assignment at the beginning of
each iteration

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The for Loop: a Count-Controlled Loop (2 of 2)

Figure 4-4 The for loop

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Using the range Function
with the for Loop
• The range function simplifies the process of
writing a for loop
 range returns an iterable object
 Iterable:contains a sequence of values that
can be iterated over

• range characteristics:
 One argument: used as ending limit
 Two arguments: starting value and ending
limit
 Three arguments: third argument is step
value

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Using the Target Variable
Inside the Loop
• Purpose of target variable is to reference
each item in a sequence as the loop
iterates

• Target variable can be used in

calculations or tasks in the body of the
loop
 Example: calculate square root of each
number in a range

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Solution
# This program uses a loop to display a
# table showing the numbers 1 through 10
# and their squares.

# Print the table headings.

print('Number\tSquare')
print('--------------')
# Print the numbers 1 through 10
# and their squares.
for number in range(1, 11):
square = number**2
print(f'{number}\t{square}')

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# This program uses a loop to display a
# table showing the numbers 1 through 10
# and their squares.

# Print the table headings.

print('Number\tSquare')
print('--------------')
# Print the numbers 1 through 10
# and their squares.
for number in range(1, 11):
square = number**2
print(f'{number}\t{square}')

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Letting the User Control
the Loop Iterations
• Sometimes the programmer does not
know exactly how many times the loop
will execute

• Can receive range inputs from the user,

place them in variables, and call the
range function in the for clause using
these variables
 Besure to consider the end cases: range
does not include the ending limit

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Generating an Iterable Sequence
that Ranges from Highest to Lowest

• The range function can be used to

generate a sequence with numbers in
descending order
 Make sure starting number is larger than
end limit, and step value is negative
 Example: range(10, 0, -1)

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Calculating a Running
Total (1 of 2)
• Programs often need to calculate a total of a
series of numbers
 Typically include two elements:
A loop that reads each number in series
 An accumulator variable

 Known as program that keeps a running total:

accumulates total and reads in series
 At end of loop, accumulator will reference the
total

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Calculating a Running Total (2 of 2)

Figure 4-6 Logic for calculating a running total

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The Augmented
Assignment Operators (1 of 3)
• In many assignment statements, the
variable on the left side of the =
operator also appears on the right
side of the = operator

• Augmented assignment operators:

special set of operators designed for
this type of job
 Shorthand operators

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The Augmented
Assignment Operators (2 of 3)

Table 4-2 Augmented assignment operators

Operator Example Usage Equivalent To

+= x += 5 x = x + 5
−= y −= 2 y = y − 2
*= z *= 10 z = z * 10
/= a /= b a = a / b
%= c %= 3 c = c % 3
//= x //= 3 x = x // 3
**= y **= 2 y = y**2

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The Augmented
Assignment Operators (3 of 3)

Table 4-2 Augmented assignment operators

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Sentinels

• Sentinel: special value that marks the end

of a sequence of items
 When program reaches a sentinel, it knows
that the end of the sequence of items was
reached, and the loop terminates
 Must be distinctive enough so as not to be
mistaken for a regular value in the
sequence
 Example: when reading an input file, empty
line can be used as a sentinel

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Input Validation Loops (1 of 3)

• Computer cannot tell the difference

between good data and bad data
 Ifuser provides bad input, program will
produce bad output
 GIGO: garbage in, garbage out
 Itis important to design program such
that bad input is never accepted

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Input Validation Loops (2 of 3)

• Input validation: inspecting input before it

is processed by the program
 If input is invalid, prompt user to enter
correct data
 Commonly accomplished using a while
loop which repeats as long as the input is
bad
 Ifinput is bad, display error message and
receive another set of data
 Ifinput is good, continue to process the
input

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Input Validation Loops (3 of 3)

Figure 4-7 Logic containing an input validation loop

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Example
# Get a test score.
score = int(input('Enter a test score: '))
# Make sure it is not less than 0 or greater than
100.
while score < 0 or score > 100:
print('ERROR: The score cannot be negative')
print('or greater than 100.')
score = int(input('Enter the correct score: '))

print(f'The score which is entered is {score}')

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Nested Loops (1 of 3)

• Nested loop: loop that is contained inside

another loop
 Example: analog clock works like a
nested loop
 Hours hand moves once for every twelve
movements of the minutes hand: for each
iteration of the “hours,” do twelve iterations
of “minutes”
 Seconds hand moves 60 times for each
movement of the minutes hand: for each
iteration of “minutes,” do 60 iterations of
“seconds”

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Nested Loops (2 of 3)

Figure 4-8 Flowchart for a clock simulator

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Example

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Nested Loops (3 of 3)

• Key points about nested loops:

 Inner loop goes through all of its iterations for
each iteration of outer loop
 Inner loops complete their iterations faster than
outer loops
 Total number of iterations in nested loop:

number of iterations of inner loop X number of iterations of outer loop

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Summary
• This chapter covered:
 Repetition structures, including:
 Condition-controlled loops
 Count-controlled loops
 Nested loops
 Infinite loops and how they can be avoided
 range function as used in for loops
 Calculatinga running total and augmented
assignment operators
 Use of sentinels to terminate loops
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