Loops: While, Do/While etc.

[Campbell Ritchie]

w curawn wrote:. . . . If the problem was simply a coding one, I would just Google it . . . .

Careful; there is no guarantee that a web search will yield good results, and we often see poor code or out of date practices from web searches.

[Carey Brown]

int current = 608;
int target = current + 10;
 
if( current < target ) {
    while( (current += ( test ? 2 : 0 )) < target ) {
        System.out.println("  ==> Click Again!");
    }
    System.out.println("  ==> Click End!");
}

[Carey Brown]

-- OR --

int current = 608;
int target = current + 10;
 
if( current < target ) {
    current += test ? 2 : 0;
    while( current < target ) {
        System.out.println("  ==> Click Again!");
        current += test ? 2 : 0;
    }
    System.out.println("  ==> Click End!");
}

[w curawn]

The whole purpose of the while loop is to check whether the returned integer fetchSb has incremented or not and keep doing so until the increment has totaled 10. current is 'my' integer, which is why I can't just increment current by 2 every iteration..

[w curawn]

Thank you all for the patience and help... it is much appreciated.

[Campbell Ritchie]

w curawn wrote:Thank you all . . . .

That's a pleasure

[Michael Billiot]

    int current = 608;
    int target = current + 10;
    boolean incremented = true;
    while(current < target) {
        current = incremented ? current + 2 : current;
        System.out.println(current < target ? current + "==> Click again" : current + "==> Click End");
        //incremented = !incremented;
    }

Might be beating a dead horse, as this seems to be similar to some of the code above.
Eliminated a couple of lines, at the expense of readability using ternary statements.
Try uncommenting line 7 as it will print out duplicate "click again" statements for each (really I just wanted to see what happens when you turn off increment flag).

Ahh,  a day late and a dollar short. LOL

[Campbell Ritchie]

Not bad. The reason for the poor legibility is that you didn't indent your ?: expression correctly and therefore got your lines too long. Try the following:-System.out.println(         current < target ? current + "==> Click again"                          : current + "==> Click End");Did you notice the repetition? You can remove it like this:-System.out.println(current + "==> Click " +         (current < target ? "again" : "End"));orSystem.out.printf("%3d ==> Click %s%n",         current < target ? "again" : "End");

[Jawahar Raj N]

HI Guys,

I have tried as below and it seems to me that it would match the requirement of the orginal poster. Your thoughts please:
Moreover, this is my first ever post/reply/comment in coderanch.

import java.util.Random;

public class TestCodeRaunch {


    public static void main(String[] args) {
        int current = 608;
        int target = current + 10;
        int finalCurrent =608;// used a seperate to store the final value of current.no harm in assigning value same as current;
        if(current < target)
            finalCurrent = checkMatch(current, target);
        System.out.println(finalCurrent+"  ==> Click End");

    }
    public static int checkMatch(int cur, int tgt) // made this static as I am calling it from Main()
    {
        boolean test;// this would be assigned a random boolean using nextBoolean() to simulate conditinal increment of current
        System.out.println(cur);
        System.out.println("  ==> Click Again");
        Random rand = new Random();
        test = rand.nextBoolean();
        if(test)
            cur = cur+2;

       return (cur < tgt) ? checkMatch(cur,tgt): cur; // it is a recursive call to itself but conditionally

    }
}

[Campbell Ritchie]

Welcome to the Ranch

I presume you have tested your program. This is what I got from JShell:-

TestCodeRaunch.main();
608
 ==> Click Again
608
 ==> Click Again
610
 ==> Click Again
610
 ==> Click Again
612
 ==> Click Again
612
 ==> Click Again
614
 ==> Click Again
616
 ==> Click Again
618  ==> Click End

Is that what is supposed to happen?

I corrected your code tags; the [/code] goes at the end of the code block and formatting tags cannot be used inside code tags. Doesn't it look better now But your long comments should be /* comments */. Otherwise the lines are too long to read.

[Jawahar Raj N]

Hi Campbell,

Thanks for the welcome and also for formatting my code and the feedback on comments  
Yes, I have run the program myself a few times before posting it here.
There were 2 points from Mr.Curawn's requirement that must be honoured in the proposed solution.
       
            1. The whole purpose of the while loop is to check whether the returned integer fetchSb has incremented or not and keep doing so until the increment has totaled 10. So, current can't just be incremented by 2 in each iteration.
           2. When fetchsb (or the latest current value post increment) exatctly matches the target, then different set of statements should be executed i.e. printing "Click end" in this example.

While most of the answers tried to address point 2, I feel the point 1 is also crucial and can't be ignored. From the point 1, we can say the ultimate goal is not to solve the problem by using a loop (while or other loops) but instead while loop was used as just a means of solving it.

Hence, I feel, we dont need a loop here, because as we know, a loop will always evaluate the conditon only "after" each iteration and not automatically break/exit in the middle of one such iteration just because some operation resulted in reversing the condtion's trueness.

I think, this was the crux of the dilemma in Mr. Curawn's question, where in he was using an if (to evaluate the same loop conditon) within the loop.

As per point 1, as the variable is not always incremented and to simulate that uncertainty, I have used nextBoolean() of Random class in my solution. So, on different runs, we might see a slightly different output wherein the retry is suggested a few additional times at certain values.But, as in point 2, it exits and prints a different msg when the variable exactly matches the target value.

My solution could very well be wrong if my interpretation of the problem itself is incorrect. Would be better if Mr. Curwan gets to check and confirm this.

[Campbell Ritchie]

Yes, I had forgotten about your only incrementing the loop variant at random, so your solution does appear to be correct.
Remember that a loop is semantically equivalent to a recursive program.

[Campbell Ritchie]

Welcome to the Ranch

Please beware of editing posts; use the preview button to see what you have written before submitting thee post.

[Elaman Bakytzhan]

int current = 608;
int target = current + 10;
for(current += 2;current < target; current+=2 ) {
      System.out.println(current + "  ==> Click Again!");
 }
 System.out.println(current + "  ==> Click End!");

 
   ---------------------------  OR---------------------------------

int current = 608;
int target = current + 10;
while((current +=2) < target) {
       System.out.println(current + "  ==> Click Again!");
}
System.out.println(current + "  ==> Click End!");

 

[Campbell Ritchie]

Welcome to the Ranch

I hope you don't recommend mixing += and <
Does that fulfil the requirements? Maybe you should print 608 etc. first.

[Duo Lingo]

public static void main(String[] args) {

int current=608;

int target = current +10;

while(current<target) {
System.out.println(current +"===>Click Again");
current+=2;
}
System.out.println(current +"===>Click End");

}

[Campbell Ritchie]

I think that will work correctly, and welcome to the Ranch