• Build a for loop.

• Build a while loop.

• Explain the purpose of a loop.

• Understand when to use each type of loop.

Sometimes, we need to do things repeatedly in programming. The same thing, over and over, maybe hundreds or thousands of times.

Let's say we have a bunch of gifts to wrap. Like.. a bunch. A hundred exactly.

That's a lot of work, but we have to do it. As programmers, however, we can break down the problem down, figure out the most efficient way to wrap everything.

These gifts all happen to be the same size and shape, so for every gift, we need to measure out and cut a similarly sized piece of wrapping paper, fold it up over the edges of the gift, tape it together, and add a nice little card. Then we set the wrapped gift aside and moved onto the next gift. Measure, cut, fold, tape, add card, set aside. Measure, cut, fold, tape, add card, set aside. Measure, cut, fold, tape, add card, set aside... phew!

In programming terms, we can think of each step as an action, a... function that is called. It might look something like:

// gift 1
measurePaperFor("teddy bear")
cutPaperFor("teddy bear")
foldPaperAround("teddy bear")
tapePaperFor("teddy bear")
attachCardOnto("teddy bear")
setAside("teddy bear")

// gift 2
measureTapeFor("drone")
cutTapeFor("drone")
foldPaperAround("drone")
tapePaperFor("drone")
attachCardOnto("drone")
setAside("drone")

// gift 3
measurePaperFor("doll")
cutTapeFor("doll")
foldPaperAround("doll")
tapePaperFor("doll")
attachCardOnto("doll")
setAside("doll")

...

...again and again. Each step, one hundred times for one hundred gifts. Each step (not shown here) is actually its own function, containing its own steps. Let's focus on one step for now... the setAside function... and we'll say that this function serves one purpose - it contains a message, an announcement that a particular gift has been wrapped, like this:

const gifts = ["teddy bear", 'drone', 'doll'];

function setAside(gift) {
  console.log(`Wrapped ${gift} and added a card!`);
}

In the above example, our gifts are just strings, collected in an array. The setAside function takes in one gift, and interpolates it into a message that is logged.

We could then call setAside on each gift individually:

setAside(gifts[0]);
// => LOG: "Wrapped teddy bear and added a card!"
setAside(gifts[1]);
// => LOG: "Wrapped drone and added a card!"
setAside(gifts[2]);
// => LOG: "Wrapped doll and added a card!"

However, this isn't very efficient or extensible. It's a lot of repetitive code to write out, and with one hundred gifts, we'd have to write 100 lines of code.

This is where loops come in handy! With a loop, we can just write the repeated action once and perform the action on every item in the collection.

Loops are used to execute the same block of code a specified number of times. In JavaScript, loops come in a few different flavors, but the main two are for and while loops.

This is a code-along, so follow along with the instructions in each section. There are tests to make sure you're coding your solutions correctly.

Of the loops in JavaScript, the for loop is the most common. The for loop is made up of four statements in the following structure:

for ([initialization]; [condition]; [iteration]) {
  [loop body]
}

• Initialization

  • Typically used to initialize a counter variable.

• Condition

  • An expression evaluated before each pass through the loop. If this expression evaluates to true, the statements in the loop body are executed. If the expression evaluates to false, the loop exits.

• Iteration

  • A statement executed at the end of each iteration. Typically, this will involve incrementing or decrementing a counter, bringing the loop ever closer to completion.

• Loop body

  • Code that runs on each pass through the loop.

Usage: Use a for loop when you know exactly how many times you want the loop to run (for example, when you have an array of known size, 100 gifts).

The code below will announce our next ten birthdays:

for (let age = 30; age < 40; age++) {
  console.log(`I'm ${age} years old. Happy birthday to me!`);
}

// LOG: I'm 30 years old. Happy birthday to me!
// LOG: I'm 31 years old. Happy birthday to me!
// LOG: I'm 32 years old. Happy birthday to me!
// LOG: I'm 33 years old. Happy birthday to me!
// LOG: I'm 34 years old. Happy birthday to me!
// LOG: I'm 35 years old. Happy birthday to me!
// LOG: I'm 36 years old. Happy birthday to me!
// LOG: I'm 37 years old. Happy birthday to me!
// LOG: I'm 38 years old. Happy birthday to me!
// LOG: I'm 39 years old. Happy birthday to me!

for ([initialization]; [condition]; [iteration]) {
  [loop body]
}

In the birthday example, let age = 30 is the initialization, as we create a variable, age, that we'll use in the next three phases of the loop. Notice that we use let instead of const because we need to increment the value of age.

The condition for the above loop is age < 40, or, in other words, "Run the code in the loop body until age is NOT less than 40." As long as the condition evaluates to true, execute the code in the loop body, increment the value of age, and then reevaluate the condition. As soon as the condition evaluates to false, exit the loop.

The iteration is age++, which increments the value of age by 1 after every pass through the loop. We initialized age as 30, and it retains that value during the first pass through the loop. At the end of the first pass, we increment age to 31, check whether the condition still holds true, and, since it does, run the loop body again with age as 31. After that second loop, we increment age to 32, and so on.

The loop body is the set of statements that we want to run when the condition evaluates to true.

for loops are often used to iterate over every element in an array. As with age in the birthday example above, each time the loop... loops..., age increments by one.

Going back to our gift wrapping example, we had an array of gifts. Each gift can be accessed by calling its index: gift[0], gift[1], gift[2], etc... With a for loop, we can use an incrementing counter, passing it inside the [] brackets to get back each item in an array:

const gifts = ['teddy bear', 'drone', 'doll'];

function setAside(gift) {
  console.log(`Wrapped ${gift} and added a card!`);
}

for (let i = 0; i < gifts.length; i++) {
  setAside(gifts[i])
}
// LOG: Wrapped teddy bear and added a bow!
// LOG: Wrapped drone and added a bow!
// LOG: Wrapped doll and added a bow!

The function setAside is unchanged. In the for loop, we started our counter, i, at 0 because arrays have zero-based indexes. Our condition states that we should run the code in the loop body while i is less than gifts.length (3 in the above example). Our iteration, i++, increments our counter by 1 at the end of each pass through the loop.

In our loop body, notice that we reference gifts[i]. Since i starts out as 0, during the first pass through the loop gifts[i] is gifts[0], which is 'teddy bear'. During the second pass through the loop, gifts[i] is gifts[1], which is 'drone'. And during the final pass through the loop, gifts[i] is gifts[2], which is 'doll'. After the third pass through the loop, we increment i to 3, which is no longer less than gifts.length. Our condition evaluates to false, and we exit the loop.

We can write for loops inside of functions, not just write function inside of for loops. We could even rewrite the setAside function so that, instead of taking in one gift at a time, we gift the whole array, and the function handles the loop:

const gifts = ['teddy bear', 'drone', 'doll'];

function setAside(giftsArray) {
  for (let i = 0; i < giftsArray.length; i++) {
    console.log(`Wrapped ${giftsArray[i]} and added a card!`);
  }
}

//the entire gifts array is passed in:
setAside(gifts)

// LOG: Wrapped teddy bear and added a bow!
// LOG: Wrapped drone and added a bow!
// LOG: Wrapped doll and added a bow!

A NOTE ON TESTING: This lab, and others like it that benefit from responsive visual feedback, use a different kind of testing than you may not be used to. When you run learn you will be presented with an IP address of a separate page that should be loaded in a secondary tab in your browser. In the terminal, you will see a message similar to:

Your server is running at 174.138.35.103:55323

These tests are especially useful because they update in realtime, immediately after the document is saved. To view this, simply copy the entire string of numbers, open a new tab and paste the numbers in. Your index.js file will appear (make sure there is content in the file, otherwise it will show up blank!). The stoplights on the right side of the page may not accurately reflect your progress against this form of testing, but the other page will indicate code coverage.

Now, for the assignment:

We're going to print out some welcome badges for new Klossybook employees. Build a function named printBadges() that accepts one argument, an array of employee names. Create a for loop with a counter that starts at 0 and increments at the end of each loop. The condition should halt the for loop after the last name in the array is printed out in the loop body.

Inside the loop, use console.log() to print out a badge for each employee, as follows:

printBadges(['Ada', 'Brendan', 'Ali']);
// LOG: Welcome Ada! You are employee #1.
// LOG: Welcome Brendan! You are employee #2.
// LOG: Welcome Ali! You are employee #3.
// => ["Ada", "Brendan", "Ali"]

After the loop completes, have the function return the original array.

The while loop is similar to a for loop in that it will keep looping as long as the condition evaluates to true. However, the idea behind a for loop is that it should loop a set number of times (e.g., start with i = 0 and loop while i < 25). A while loop, on the other hand, is designed to loop an indefinite amount of times — it should keep looping while the condition is true or, said differently, until the condition is false. There isn't a definite limit like "25 times" placed upon it.

A while loop has the following structure:

while ([condition]) {
  [loop body]
}

Usage: A while loop is best used when we don't know how many times a loop needs to run. Often, this is because the condition depends on a dynamic value.

function maybeTrue () {
  //Math.random returns a random value between 0 and 1
  return Math.random() >= 0.5;
}

while (maybeTrue()) {
  console.log('And I ran... I ran so far away!');
}

Run the above code in your browser console. In this example, maybeTrue() returns true half the time and false half the time. Our loop runs until maybeTrue() returns false, so, theoretically, the body of the loop might never run (if the first evaluation of maybeTrue() returns false) or it might run forever (if maybeTrue() goes on an incredible streak with Math.random() never returning anything below 0.5). We've used a while loop because we don't have any specific number to count up or down to in our loop; we just want it to run until the condition is no longer met.

We can also use a while loop in place of a for loop. We just have to remember to make sure the condition updates with each pass through the loop so that the loop eventually terminates. Otherwise, it'll run forever, and we'll have to throw our overheating computer out the window and buy a new one. Here's an example of a while loop with a defined exit strategy:

let countdown = 10;

while (countdown > 0) {
  console.log(--countdown);
}

We're going to create a little game for our Klossybook users to play when they're bored. Create a function named tailsNeverFails() that takes no arguments. In the function body, use a while loop with a condition that simulates a coin flip (two equally likely outcomes). For inspiration, check out the maybeTrue() example above. If the condition evaluates to true, the coin landed on 'Tails' and is flipped again. If the condition evaluates to false, the coin landed on 'Heads', and the 'Tails' streak is broken. At the end of the function, return a message to the user indicating how many times the coin landed on 'Tails' in a row, e.g.:

tailsNeverFails();
// => "You got 3 tails in a row!"

tailsNeverFails();
// => "You got 0 tails in a row!"

tailsNeverFails();
// => "You got 5 tails in a row!"

If you're feeling a bit lost about when to use a for vs. a while loop, take a deep breath. Most of the time, a regular for loop will suffice. It's by far the most common looping construct in JavaScript. A general heuristic for choosing which loop to use is to first try a for loop. If that doesn't serve your purposes, then go ahead and try a while or do...while loop. Also, remember that you can always refer to the documentation on these loops at any time. After some time programming in JavaScript, writing a for loop will come as naturally to you as wrapping one gift after another.

• Codecademy

  • for loop

  • while loop

• MDN

  • for loop

  • while loop

  • Loops and iteration