Chapter 5

Control Structures II
(Repetition or Looping)

C++ Programming: From Problem Analysis to

Program Design, Fifth Edition
 Why is Repetition Needed?
• Repetition allows you to efficiently use
variables
• Can input, add, and average multiple
numbers using a limited number of variables
• For example, to add five numbers:
– Declare a variable for each number, input the
numbers and add the variables together
– Create a loop that reads a number into a variable
and adds it to a variable that contains the sum of
the numbers

C++ Programming: From Problem Analysis to Program Design, Fifth Edition 2

 while Looping (Repetition)
Structure
• The general form of the while statement is:

while is a reserved word

• Statement can be simple or compound
• Expression acts as a decision maker and is
usually a logical expression
• Statement is called the body of the loop
• The parentheses are part of the syntax

C++ Programming: From Problem Analysis to Program Design, Fifth Edition 3

 while Looping (Repetition)
Structure (cont'd.)

• Infinite loop: continues to execute endlessly

– Avoided by including statements in loop body that
assure exit condition is eventually false

C++ Programming: From Problem Analysis to Program Design, Fifth Edition 4

 while Looping (Repetition)
Structure (cont'd.)

C++ Programming: From Problem Analysis to Program Design, Fifth Edition 5

 Designing while Loops

C++ Programming: From Problem Analysis to Program Design, Fifth Edition 6

 Case 1: Counter-Controlled
while Loops
• If you know exactly how many pieces of data
need to be read,
– while loop becomes a counter-controlled loop

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 Case 2: Sentinel-Controlled
while Loops
• Sentinel variable is tested in the condition
• Loop ends when sentinel is encountered

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 Example 5-5: Telephone Digits

• Example 5-5 provides an example of a sentinel-

controlled loop
• The program converts uppercase letters to their
corresponding telephone digit

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 Case 3: Flag-Controlled while Loops
• A flag-controlled while loop uses a bool
variable to control the loop
• The flag-controlled while loop takes the form

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 Number Guessing Game
• Example 5-6 implements a number guessing
game using a flag-controlled while loop
• The program uses the function rand of the
header file cstdlib to generate a random
number
– rand()returns an int value between 0 and 32767
– To convert it to an integer greater than or equal to
0 and less than 100:
• rand() % 100
C++ Programming: From Problem Analysis to Program Design, Fifth Edition 11
 Case 4: EOF-Controlled while Loops

• Use an EOF (End Of File)-controlled

while loop
• The logical value returned by cin can
determine if the program has ended input

C++ Programming: From Problem Analysis to Program Design, Fifth Edition 12

 eof Function
• The function eof can determine the end
of file status
• eof is a member of data type istream
– Like other I/O functions
• The syntax for the function eof is:

where istreamVar is an input stream

variable, such as cin

C++ Programming: From Problem Analysis to Program Design, Fifth Edition 13

 More on Expressions in while
Statements
• The expression in a while statement can
be complex
– For example:

while ((noOfGuesses < 5) && (!isGuessed))

{
…
}

C++ Programming: From Problem Analysis to Program Design, Fifth Edition 14

 Programming Example: Fibonacci Number

• Consider the following sequence of

numbers:
– 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, ....
• Given the first two numbers of the
sequence (say, a1 and a2)
– nth number an, n >= 3, of this sequence is
given by: an = an-1 + an-2

C++ Programming: From Problem Analysis to Program Design, Fifth Edition 15

 Programming Example: Fibonacci
Number (cont'd.)
• Fibonacci sequence
– nth Fibonacci number
– a2 = 1
– a1 = 1
– Determine the nth number, an, n >= 3

C++ Programming: From Problem Analysis to Program Design, Fifth Edition 16

 Programming Example: Fibonacci
Number (cont'd.)
• Suppose a2 = 6 and a1 = 3
– a3 = a2 + a1 = 6 + 3 = 9;
– a4 = a3 + a2 = 9 + 6 = 15
• Write a program that determines the nth
Fibonacci number
– Given the first two numbers

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 Programming Example: Input and
Output

• Input: first two Fibonacci numbers

• Output: nth Fibonacci number

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 Programming Example: Problem
Analysis and Algorithm Design
• Algorithm:
– Get the first two Fibonacci numbers
– Get the desired Fibonacci number
• Get the position, n, of the Fibonacci number in the
sequence
– Calculate the next Fibonacci number
• By adding the previous two elements of the
Fibonacci sequence

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 Programming Example: Problem
Analysis and Algorithm Design (cont'd.)

– Repeat Step 3 until the nth Fibonacci number

is found

– Output the nth Fibonacci number

C++ Programming: From Problem Analysis to Program Design, Fifth Edition 20

 Programming Example:
Variables

C++ Programming: From Problem Analysis to Program Design, Fifth Edition 21

 Programming Example: Main
Algorithm
1. Prompt the user for the first two numbers—
that is, previous1 and previous2
2. Read (input) the first two numbers into
previous1 and previous2
3. Output the first two Fibonacci numbers
4. Prompt the user for the position of the
desired Fibonacci number
5. Read the position of the desired Fibonacci
number into nthFibonacci

C++ Programming: From Problem Analysis to Program Design, Fifth Edition 22

 Programming Example: Main
Algorithm (cont'd.)
6.
a. if (nthFibonacci == 1)
The desired Fibonacci number is the first
Fibonacci number. Copy the value of
previous1 into current
b. else if (nthFibonacci == 2)
The desired Fibonacci number is the second
Fibonacci number. Copy the value of
previous2 into current.

C++ Programming: From Problem Analysis to Program Design, Fifth Edition 23

Programming Example: Main Algorithm
(cont'd.)
6. (cont’d.)
c. else calculate the desired Fibonacci
number as follows:
• Start by determining the third Fibonacci number
• Initialize counter to 3 to keep track of the
calculated Fibonacci numbers.
• Calculate the next Fibonacci number, as follows:
current = previous2 + previous1;

C++ Programming: From Problem Analysis to Program Design, Fifth Edition 24

Programming Example: Main Algorithm
(cont'd.)
6.
c. (cont’d.)
• Assign the value of previous2 to previous1
• Assign the value of current to previous2
• Increment counter
• Repeat until Fibonacci number is calculated:
while (counter <= nthFibonacci)
{
current = previous2 + previous1;
previous1 = previous2;
previous2 = current;
counter++;
}
C++ Programming: From Problem Analysis to Program Design, Fifth Edition 25
Programming Example: Main Algorithm
(cont'd.)

7. Output the nthFibonacci number,

which is current

C++ Programming: From Problem Analysis to Program Design, Fifth Edition 26

 for Looping (Repetition) Structure
• The general form of the for statement is:

• The initial statement, loop

condition, and update statement
are called for loop control statements
– initial statement usually initializes a
variable (called the for loop control, or for
indexed, variable)
• In C++, for is a reserved word
C++ Programming: From Problem Analysis to Program Design, Fifth Edition 27
 for Looping (Repetition) Structure
(cont'd.)

C++ Programming: From Problem Analysis to Program Design, Fifth Edition 28

 for Looping (Repetition) Structure
(cont'd.)

C++ Programming: From Problem Analysis to Program Design, Fifth Edition 29

for Looping (Repetition) Structure (cont'd.)
• C++ allows you to use fractional values for
loop control variables of the double type
– Results may differ
• The following is a semantic error:

• The following is a legal for loop:

for (;;)
cout << "Hello" << endl;

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 for Looping (Repetition) Structure
(cont'd.)

C++ Programming: From Problem Analysis to Program Design, Fifth Edition 31

 do…while Looping (Repetition)
Structure
• General form of a do...while:

• The statement executes first, and then

the expression is evaluated
• To avoid an infinite loop, body must
contain a statement that makes the
expression false
• The statement can be simple or
compound
• Loop always iterates at least once
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 do…while Looping (Repetition)
Structure (cont'd.)

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 do…while Looping (Repetition)
Structure (cont'd.)

C++ Programming: From Problem Analysis to Program Design, Fifth Edition 34

 do…while Looping (Repetition)
Structure (cont'd.)

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 Example 5-20: Divisibility Test by
3 and 9

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 Choosing the Right Looping
Structure
• All three loops have their place in C++
– If you know or can determine in advance the
number of repetitions needed, the for loop is
the correct choice
– If you do not know and cannot determine in
advance the number of repetitions needed,
and it could be zero, use a while loop
– If you do not know and cannot determine in
advance the number of repetitions needed,
and it is at least one, use a do...while loop

C++ Programming: From Problem Analysis to Program Design, Fifth Edition 37

 break and continue Statements
• break and continue alter the flow of
control
• break statement is used for two purposes:
– To exit early from a loop
• Can eliminate the use of certain (flag) variables
– To skip the remainder of the switch structure
• After the break statement executes, the
program continues with the first statement
after the structure

C++ Programming: From Problem Analysis to Program Design, Fifth Edition 38

 break and continue Statements
(cont'd.)
• continue is used in while, for, and
do…while structures
• When executed in a loop
– It skips remaining statements and
proceeds with the next iteration of the loop

C++ Programming: From Problem Analysis to Program Design, Fifth Edition 39

 Nested Control Structures
• To create the following pattern:
*
**
***
****
*****
• We can use the following code:
for (i = 1; i <= 5 ; i++)
{
for (j = 1; j <= i; j++)
cout << "*";
cout << endl;
}

C++ Programming: From Problem Analysis to Program Design, Fifth Edition 40

 Nested Control Structures
(cont'd.)
• What is the result if we replace the first
for statement with the following?
for (i = 5; i >= 1; i--)

• Answer:
*****
****
***
**
*

C++ Programming: From Problem Analysis to Program Design, Fifth Edition 41

 Avoiding Bugs by Avoiding
Patches
• Software patch
– Piece of code written on top of an existing
piece of code
– Intended to fix a bug in the original code
• Some programmers address the symptom
of the problem by adding a software patch
• Should instead resolve underlying issue

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 Debugging Loops
• Loops are harder to debug than sequence
and selection structures
• Use loop invariant
– Set of statements that remains true each time
the loop body is executed
• Most common error associated with loops
is off-by-one

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