Modern Programming Tools And

Techniques-I
Lecture 4: Control Structures
Selection Statements
• Java supports two selection statements: if and switch.
if statement
if (condition) statement1;
else statement2;

• Each statement may be a single statement or a compound

statement enclosed in curly braces (block).

• The condition is any expression that returns a boolean value.

• The else clause is optional.

• If the condition is true, then statement1 is executed. Otherwise,

statement2 (if it exists) is executed.

• In no case will both statements be executed.

 Nested ifs
• A nested if is an if statement that is the target of another if
or else.
• In nested ifs an else statement always refers to the nearest
if statement that is within the same block as the else and
that is not already associated with an else.

if (i == 10) {
if (j < 20) a = b;
if (k > 100) c = d; // this if is
else a = c; // associated with this else
}
else a = d; // this else refers to if(i == 10)
 The if-else-if Ladder
• A sequence of nested ifs is the if-else-if ladder.
if(condition)
statement;
else if(condition)
statement;
else if(condition)
statement;
...
else
statement;
• The if statements are executed from the top to down.
 switch
• The switch statement is Java’s multi-way branch statement.
• provides an easy way to dispatch execution to different parts of your
code based on the value of an expression.
• provides a better alternative than a large series of if-else-if statements.

switch (expression) {
case value1:
// statement sequence
break;
case value2:
// statement sequence
break;
...
case valueN:
// statement sequence
break;
default:
// default statement sequence
}
• The expression must be of type byte, short, int, or char.
• Each of the values specified in the case statements must be
of a type compatible with the expression.
• Each case value must be a unique literal (i.e. constant not
variable).
• Duplicate case values are not allowed.
• The value of the expression is compared with each of the
literal values in the case statements.
• If a match is found, the code sequence following that case
statement is executed.
• If none of the constants matches the value of the
expression, then the default statement is executed.
• The default statement is optional.
• If no case matches and no default is present, then no further
action is taken.
• The break statement is used inside the switch to terminate a
statement sequence.
• When a break statement is encountered, execution branches
to the first line of code that follows the entire switch
statement.
class SampleSwitch {
public static void main(String args[]) {
for(int i=0; i<6; i++)
switch(i) {
case 0:
System.out.println("i is zero.");
break;
case 1:
System.out.println("i is one.");
break;
case 2:
System.out.println("i is two.");
break;
default:
 Nested switch Statements
• When a switch is used as a part of the statement sequence of an
outer switch. This is called a nested switch.
switch(count) {
case 1:
switch(target) { // nested switch
case 0:
System.out.println("target is zero");
break;
case 1: // no conflicts with outer switch
System.out.println("target is one");
break;
}
break;
case 2: // ...
 Difference between ifs and switch
• switch can only test for equality, whereas if can evaluate any
type of Boolean expression. That is, the switch looks only for a
match between the value of the expression and one of its case
constants.

• A switch statement is usually more efficient than a set of nested

ifs.

• Note: No two case constants in the same switch can have

identical values. Of course, a switch statement and an enclosing
outer switch can have case constants in common.
Iteration Statements
(Loops)
 Iteration Statements
• In Java, iteration statements (loops) are:
– for
– while, and
– do-while

• A loop repeatedly executes the same set of

instructions until a termination condition is met.
 While Loop
• While loop repeats a statement or block while its
controlling expression is true.
• The condition can be any Boolean expression.
• The body of the loop will be executed as long as the
conditional expression is true.
• When condition becomes false, control passes to the
next line of code immediately following the loop.
while(condition)
{
// body of loop
}
class While
{
public static void main(String args[]) {
int n = 10;
char a = 'G';
while(n > 0)
{
System.out.print(a);
n--;
a++;
}
}
}
• The body of the loop will not execute even once if the
condition is false.

• The body of the while (or any other of Java’s loops)

can be empty. This is because a null statement (one that
consists only of a semicolon) is syntactically valid in
Java.
 do-while
• The do-while loop always executes its body at least once,
because its conditional expression is at the bottom of the
loop.

do {
// body of loop
} while (condition);

• Each iteration of the do-while loop first executes the body

of the loop and then evaluates the conditional expression.
• If this expression is true, the loop will repeat. Otherwise,
the loop terminates.
 for Loop
for (initialization; condition; iteration)
{
// body
}

• Initialization portion sets the value of loop control variable.

• Initialization expression is only executed once.
• Condition must be a Boolean expression. It usually tests the
loop control variable against a target value.
• Iteration is an expression that increments or decrements the
loop control variable.
The for loop operates as follows.

• When the loop first starts, the initialization portion of

the loop is executed.

• Next, condition is evaluated. If this expression is true,

then the body of the loop is executed. If it is false, the
loop terminates.

• Next, the iteration portion of the loop is executed.

class ForTable
{
public static void main(String args[])
{
int n;
int x=5;
for(n=1; n<=10; n++)
{
int p = x*n;
System.out.println(x+"*"+n +"="+ p);
}
}
}
 What will be the output?

class Loop
{
public static void main(String args[])
{
for(int i=0; i<5; i++);
System.out.println (i++);
}
}
 Declaring loop control variable inside loop
• We can declare the variable inside the initialization
portion of the for.

for ( int i=0; i<10; i++)

{
System.out.println(i);
}
• Note: The scope of this variable i is limited to the for
loop and ends with the for statement.
 Using multiple variables in a for loop
• More than one statement in the initialization and iteration
portions of the for loop can be used.
Example 1:
class var2 {
public static void main(String arr[]) {
int a, b;
b = 5;
for(a=0; a<b; a++) {
System.out.println("a = " + a);
System.out.println("b = " + b);
b--;
}
}
}
• Comma (separator) is used while initializing multiple loop
control variables.
Example 2:

class var21
{
public static void main(String arr[]) {
int x, y;
for(x=0, y=5; x<=y; x++, y--) {
System.out.println("x= " + x);
System.out.println(“y = " + y);
}
}
}
• Initialization and iteration can be moved out from for loop.
Example 3:
class Loopchk
{
public static void main(String arr[])
{
for(int i=1, j=5; i>0 && j>2; i++, j--)
System.out.println("i is: "+ i + "and j is: "+j);
}
}
 For-Each Version of the for Loop

• Beginning with JDK 5, a second form of for was

defined that implements a “for-each” style loop.

• For-each is also referred to as the enhanced for loop.

• Designed to cycle through a collection of objects, such

as an array, in strictly sequential fashion, from start to
finish.
 for (type itr-var : collection) statement-block

• type specifies the type.

• itr-var specifies the name of an iteration variable that will
receive the elements from a collection, one at a time, from
beginning to end.
• The collection being cycled through is specified by
collection.
• With each iteration of the loop, the next element in the
collection is retrieved and stored in itr-var.
• The loop repeats until all elements in the collection have
been obtained.
class ForEach
{
public static void main(String arr[])
{
int num[] = { 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 };
int sum = 0;
for(int i : num)
{
System.out.println("Value is: " + i);
sum += i;
}
System.out.println("Sum is: " + sum);
}
}
 Iterating Over Multidimensional Arrays
class ForEachMArray {
public static void main(String args[]) {
int sum = 0;
int num[][] = new int[3][5];
// give num some values
for(int i = 0; i < 3; i++)
for(int j=0; j < 5; j++)
num[i][j] = (i+1)*(j+1);
// use for-each for to display and sum the values
for(int x[] : num) {
for(int y : x) {
System.out.println("Value is: " + y);
sum += y;
 Nested Loops
class NestedLoop
{
public static void main(String arr[])
{
int i, j;
for(i=0; i<10; i++)
{
for(j=i; j<10; j++)
System.out.print(“* ”);
System.out.println( );
}
}
}
 Jump Statements
• Java supports three jump statements:
– break
– continue
– return
• These statements transfer control to another part of the
program.

• Break: break statement has three uses.

– terminates a statement sequence in a switch statement
– used to exit a loop
– used as a “civilized” form of goto
Example 1:
class BreakLoop
{
public static void main(String arr[])
{
for(int i=0; i<100; i++)
{
if(i == 10) break;
// terminate loop if i is 10
System.out.println("i: " + i);
}
System.out.println("Loop complete.");
}
}
• Java defines an expanded form of the break statement.
• By using this form of break, we can break out of one or
more blocks of code.
• These blocks need not be part of a loop or a switch. They
can be any block.
• Further, we can specify precisely where execution will
resume, because this form of break works with a label.
break label;
• When this form of break executes, control is transferred out of the
named block. The labeled block must enclose the break statement.
class BreakLoop
{
public static void main(String arr[])
{
outer: for(int i=0; i<3; i++)
{
System.out.print("Pass " + i + ": ");
for(int j=0; j<100; j++)
{
if(j == 10) break outer; // exit both loops
System.out.print(j + " ");
}
System.out.println("This will not print");
}
System.out.println("Loops complete.");
}
}
 Continue
• In while and do-while loops, a continue statement causes control to be transferred directly
to the conditional expression that controls the loop.
• In a for loop, control goes first to the iteration portion of the for statement and then to the
conditional expression.
• For all three loops, any intermediate code is bypassed.

• Example:
class Continue
{
public static void main(String args[])
{
for(int i=0; i<5; i++)
{
System.out.println(i + " ");
if (i%2 == 0) continue;
System.out.println("No Continue");
}
}
}
• Similar to break statement, Continue may specify a label to describe which enclosing
loop to continue.
Example:
class ContinueLabel
{
public static void main(String args[])
{
outer: for (int i=0; i<10; i++)
{
for(int j=0; j<10; j++)
{
if(j > i)
{
System.out.println();
continue outer;
}
System.out.print(" " + (i * j));
}
}
System.out.println();
}
}
 return
• The return statement is used to explicitly return from a
method.
• It causes program control to transfer back to the caller of
the method.
if(t) statement is necessary. Without it, the Java compiler
Example: would flag an “unreachable code” error because the
class Return { compiler would know that the last println( ) statement
public static void main(String args[])
would never {
be executed.
boolean t = true;
System.out.println("Before the return.");
if(t) return; // return to caller
System.out.println("This won't execute.");
}
}