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
• Turtle Graphics: Using Loops to Draw Designs

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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(while
loops) and count-controlled loops (for loops)
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The while Loop: a Condition-
Controlled Loop
• 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
• In flow chart, line goes back to previous part
• General format:
while condition:
statements

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The while Loop: a Condition-
Controlled Loop (cont’d.)

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The while Loop: a Condition-
Controlled Loop (cont’d.)
Example:
Number = 1
While number >= 3:
print(Number)
Number = Number + 1

Output:
1
2
3

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The while Loop: a Condition-
Controlled Loop (cont’d.)
• 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
• Will never execute if condition is false to start with
• Requires performing some steps prior to the loop
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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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 Infinite Loops (cont’d.)
• Example

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 The for Loop: a Count-
Controlled Loop
• 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 (cont’d.)
Example:

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The for Loop: a Count-
Controlled Loop (cont’d.)

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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 range Function
with the for Loop (cont’d.)
• Example: One argument

If you pass one argument to the range function, as demonstrated in Program 4-7, that
argument is used as the ending limit of the sequence of numbers.

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 Using the range Function
with the for Loop (cont’d.)
Example: two arguments
If you pass two arguments to the range function, the first
argument is used as the starting value of the sequence, and
the second argument is used as the ending limit. Here is an
example:

By default, the range function produces a sequence of

numbers that increase by 1 for each successive number in the
list.
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 Using the range Function
with the for Loop (cont’d.)
Example: three arguments
If you pass a third argument to the range function, that
argument is used as step value. Instead of increasing by 1,
each successive number in the sequence will increase by
the step value. Here is an example:

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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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 Using the Target Variable
Inside the Loop (cont’d.)
Example: calculate square root of each number
in a range

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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
Be sure 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
• 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
(cont’d.)

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 The Augmented Assignment
Operators
• 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 (cont’d.)

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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
• Computer cannot tell the difference
between good data and bad data
• If user provides bad input, program will
produce bad output
• GIGO: garbage in, garbage out
• It is important to design program such that
bad input is never accepted

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 Input Validation Loops
(cont’d.)
• 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
• If input is bad, display error message and receive
another set of data
• If input is good, continue to process the input

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Input Validation Loops
(cont’d.)

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 Nested Loops
• 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 (cont’d.)
• 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
• To get the total number of iterations of a nested
loop, multiply the number of iterations of all the
loops.
number_iterations_inner * number_iterations_outer

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