The while loop

Computers are good at carrying out very simple instructions at a very high speed. At the same time, many programs consist of executing a set of instructions repeatedly. Examples include reading a file, listing the contents of a directory, searching, aggregating, etc.

In this lesson, we will look at one of the ways to do things repeatedly in a program: the while loop. At the end of the lesson, you will be able to:

• Write a simple while loop
• Understand the various ways to terminate a loop
• Use break and continue to alter the flow of a loop
• Use the accumulator pattern