Starting out with Python

Fifth Edition

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 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
– 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 (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
 Will never 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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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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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 (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 2)

• 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 2)

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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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
– 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 (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
 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 (3 of 3)

Figure 4-7 Logic containing an input validation loop

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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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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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Turtle Graphics: Using Loops to Draw
Designs (1 of 4)
• You can use loops with the turtle to draw both simple
shapes and elaborate designs. For example, the
following for loop iterates four times to draw a square
that is 100 pixels wide:

for x in range(4):
turtle.forward(100)
turtle.right(90)

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Turtle Graphics: Using Loops to Draw
Designs (2 of 4)
• This for loop iterates eight times to draw the
octagon:

for x in range(8):
turtle.forward(100)
turtle.right(45)

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Turtle Graphics: Using Loops to Draw
Designs (3 of 4)
• You can create interesting designs by repeatedly
drawing a simple shape, with the turtle tilted at a
slightly different angle each time it draws the shape.

NUM_CIRCLES = 36 # Number of circles to draw

RADIUS = 100 # Radius of each circle
ANGLE = 10 # Angle to turn

for x in range(NUM_CIRCLES):
turtle.circle(RADIUS)
turtle.left(ANGLE)

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Turtle Graphics: Using Loops to Draw
Designs (4 of 4)
• This code draws a sequence of 36 straight lines to
make a "starburst" design.

START_X = -200 # Starting X coordinate

START_Y = 0 # Starting Y coordinate
NUM_LINES = 36 # Number of lines to draw
LINE_LENGTH = 400 # Length of each line
ANGLE = 170 # Angle to turn

turtle.hideturtle()
turtle.penup()
turtle.goto(START_X, START_Y)
turtle.pendown()

for x in range(NUM_LINES):
turtle.forward(LINE_LENGTH)
turtle.left(ANGLE)

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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
– Calculating a running total and augmented assignment
operators
– Use of sentinels to terminate loops
– Using loops to draw turtle graphic designs
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