COMP 117

Python Programming
by Manoj Shakya

These slides are heavily influenced by MITOPENCOURSEWARE 6.0001

 Be respectful to
others as you want
them to be respectful
to you!

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Unit 6 - Loops

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Contents

• Introduction to looping structure

• The while statement
• The for statement
• using range function (using for to write a count-controlled loop)
• The break, continue, and pass statements
• Nested Loops

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Looping

• Definition:
Loops are control structures that repeat a block of code until a
certain condition is met.
code
• Importance:
• Iterating over data
• Automating repetitive tasks, and
• Efficient code execution. condition
• Two looping statements
• while loop False
True
• for loop
loop body

code

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The while statement

• <condition> evaluates to a • Syntax

Boolean
• if <condition> is True, do
all the steps inside the while
code block while <condition>
<statement1>
• check <condition> again <statement2>
• repeat until <condition> is …
False

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Examples (while loop)

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Trace Table
LN factorial current number test

1 4

2 1

3 1

5 True
6 1

7 2

5 True

6 2

7 3
5 True
6 6

7 4

5 True

6 24
7 5

5 False

9 24 4

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The for statement

• Iterate through numbers in a sequence

# more complicated with while loop

n = 0
while n < 5:
print(n)
n = n+1

# shortcut with for loop

for n in range(5):
print(n)

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The for statement

for <variable> in range(<some_number>):

<expression>
<expression>
...
• Each time through the loop, <variable> takes a value
• First time, <variable> starts at the smallest value
• Next time, <variable> gets the prev value + 1
• And so on…

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range(start, stop, step)

• Default values are start=0 and step=1 and optional

• Loop until value is stop-1

mysum = 0
for i in range(7,10):
mysum += i
print(mysum)

mysum = 0
for i in range(5,11,2):
mysum += i
print(mysum)

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Examples (for loop w/ Trace Table)
LN sum_of i num i<num num%i
_divis == 0?
ors
2 6

5 0

6 1 True

7 True

8 1

6 2 True

7 True

8 3

6 3 True

Complete yourself!!!
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The break statement

mysum = 0

for i in range(5, 11, 2):

mysum += i
if mysum == 5:
break
mysum += 1
print(mysum)

• What happens in this program?

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The continue statement

mysum = 0

for i in range(5, 11, 2):

mysum += i
if mysum == 5:
continue
mysum += 1
print(mysum)

• What happens in this program?

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The pass statement

for i in range(5, 11, 2):

pass

• What happens in this program?

• The pass statement is used as a placeholder for future code.

• When the pass statement is executed, nothing happens, but you
avoid getting an error when empty code is not allowed.
• Empty code is not allowed in loops, function definitions, class
definitions, or in if statements.

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for vs while loops

for loops while loops

• Know number of iterations • Unbounded number of
• Can end early via break iterations
• Uses a counter • Can end early via break
• Can rewrite a for loop using a • Can use a counter but must
while loop initialize before loop and
increment it inside loop
• May not be able to rewrite a
while loops using a for loop

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Nested loops (while loop)

# Outer loop
i = 1
while i <= 3:
# Inner loop
j = 1
while j <= 3:
print(f"i = {i}, j = {j}")
j += 1
i += 1

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Nested loops (for loop)

# Outer loop
for i in range(1, 4):
# Inner loop
for j in range(1, 4):
print(f"i = {i}, j = {j}”)

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Let’s practice Lab #6

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The end!

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