Ch 5.
Looping
Part 2
CS 1428
Fall 2011
Jill Seaman
Lecture 13
Increment and Decrement
Loops commonly have a counter variable
Inside the loop body, counter variable is often
− incremented: increased by one OR
− decremented: decreased by one
Example from last time:
int number = 1;
while (number <= 3)
{
cout << “Student” << number << endl;
number = number + 1;
}
cout << “Done” << endl;
2
Increment/Decrement Operators
C++ provides unary operators to increment and
decrement.
- Increment operator: ++
- Decrement operator: --
Examples:
int num = 10;
num++; //equivalent to: num = num + 1;
num--; // equivalent to: num = num - 1;
Postfix and Prefix
The increment and decrement operators may be
used in either postfix OR prefix mode:
- Postfix: num++
- Prefix: ++num
Examples:
int num = 10;
num++; //equivalent to: num = num + 1;
num--; //equivalent to: num = num - 1;
++num; //equivalent to: num = num + 1;
--num; //equivalent to: num = num - 1; 4
Postfix and Prefix: why?
No difference between postfix and prefix
UNLESS the variable is used in an expression:
num++ - Postfix, increments num AFTER it is used.
++num - Prefix, increments num BEFORE it is used.
• Examples:
int num = 10;
cout << num++;
//equivalent to: cout << num; num = num + 1;
cout << ++num;
//equivalent to: num = num + 1; cout << num;
5
Watch out
What is output in each case?
int x = 13;
if (x++ > 13)
cout << “x greater than 13” << endl;
cout << x << endl;
int x = 13;
if (++x > 13)
cout << “x greater than 13” << endl;
cout << x << endl;
I recommend NOT using ++ and -- in
expressions. 6
Two kinds of loops
Conditional loop: executes as long as a certain
condition is true
- input validation: loops as long as input is invalid
Count-controlled loop: executes a specific
number of times/iterations
- count may be a literal, or stored in a variable.
Count-controlled loop follows a pattern:
- initialize counter to zero (or other start value).
- test counter to make sure it is less than count.
- update counter during each interation. 7
for
the for statement is used to easily implement a
count-controlled loop.
for (expr1; expr2; expr3)
statement
expr1 is evaluated (initialization).
expr2 is evaluated (test)
− If it is true, then statement is executed,
then expr3 is executed (update), repeat.
− If/when it is false, then statement is skipped,
and the loop is exited. 8
for and while
the for statement:
for (expr1; expr2; expr3)
statement
is equivalent to the following while statement:
expr1; // initialize
while (expr2) { // test
statement
expr3; // update
} 9
for example
Example:
int number;
for (number = 1; number <= 3; number++)
{
cout << “Student” << number << endl;
}
cout << “Done” << endl;
Output:
Student1
Student2
Student3
Done
10
Counters: Redo
The example using while to output table of
squares of ints 1 through 8:.
cout << “Number Number Squared” << endl;
cout << “------ --------------” << endl;
int num = 1;
while (num <= 8)
{
cout << num << “ “ << (num * num) << endl;
num = num + 1; // increment the counter
}
Rewritten using for:
cout << “Number Number Squared” << endl;
cout << “------ --------------” << endl;
int num;
for (num = 1; num <= 8; num++)
cout << num << “ “ << (num * num) << endl;
11
Watch out
What is output?
int x;
for (x=1; x <= 10; x++) {
cout << “Repeat!” << endl;
x++;
}
cout << “Done!” << endl;
Do not update the loop variable in the body of a
for loop.
12
Options
What is output? Note: no semicolon
int x;
for (x = 10; x > 0; x = x-2)
cout << x << endl;
Can define the loop variable inside the for:
for (int x = 10; x > 0; x=x-2)
cout << x << endl;
cout << x << endl; //ERROR, can’t use x here
Do NOT try to access x outside the loop (the
scope of x is the for loop only) 13
Non-deterministic count
How many rows are output?
int maxCount;
cout << “How many squares do you want?” << endl;
cin >> maxCount;
cout << “Number Number Squared” << endl;
cout << “------ --------------” << endl;
int num;
for (num = 1; num <= maxCount; num++)
cout << num << “ “ << (num * num) << endl;
It depends . . .
It’s still a count controlled loop, even though the
count is not known until run-time.
14
The exprs are optional
You may omit any of the three exprs in the for
loop header
int value, incr;
cout << “Enter the starting value: “;
cin >> value;
for ( ; value <= 100; )
{
cout << “Please enter the increment amount: “;
cin >> incr;
value = value + incr;
cout << value << endl;
}
// technically it’s a count controlled loop, but use a while
Watchout:
for ( ; ; )
cout << “Hello!” << endl;
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