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  3. while (true) and for (; ; ) [modified]

while (true) and for (; ; ) [modified]

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  • C Christopher Duncan

    Nishant Sivakumar wrote:

    what it's meant to do.

    Hang the app with an endless loop? :)

    Christopher Duncan Author of The Career Programmer Watch Bad Programmer! - Premieres May, 2011

    N Offline
    N Offline
    Nish Nishant
    wrote on last edited by
    #27

    Christopher Duncan wrote:

    Hang the app with an endless loop?

    Only on a single core machine :-D

    Regards, Nish


    New article available: Resetting a View Model in WPF MVVM applications without code-behind in the view My technology blog: voidnish.wordpress.com

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    • N Nish Nishant

      Christopher Duncan wrote:

      Hang the app with an endless loop?

      Only on a single core machine :-D

      Regards, Nish


      New article available: Resetting a View Model in WPF MVVM applications without code-behind in the view My technology blog: voidnish.wordpress.com

      C Offline
      C Offline
      Christopher Duncan
      wrote on last edited by
      #28

      :laugh:

      Christopher Duncan Author of The Career Programmer Watch Bad Programmer! - Premieres May, 2011

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      • W wizardzz

        What are your views on these? How often do you use or see them and in what cases? Just curious, it's a little debate with my project's Architect. To clarify, I don't mean the preference between the 2, but the use of such loops in production.

        "Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside in a cloud of smoke, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming "Wow! What a Ride!" — Hunter S. Thompson

        modified on Thursday, March 10, 2011 12:10 PM

        J Offline
        J Offline
        Jun Du
        wrote on last edited by
        #29

        I don't find many situations where I must use either. Something like while(!done) gives you a control over whether and when to exit, normal or abnormal.

        Best, Jun

        C 1 Reply Last reply
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        • W wizardzz

          What are your views on these? How often do you use or see them and in what cases? Just curious, it's a little debate with my project's Architect. To clarify, I don't mean the preference between the 2, but the use of such loops in production.

          "Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside in a cloud of smoke, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming "Wow! What a Ride!" — Hunter S. Thompson

          modified on Thursday, March 10, 2011 12:10 PM

          Mike HankeyM Offline
          Mike HankeyM Offline
          Mike Hankey
          wrote on last edited by
          #30

          I use the while(true) consistently...in embedded apps. (AVR)

          If you are cross-eyed and have dyslexia, can you read all right? http://www.hq4thmarinescomm.com[^] JaxCoder.com[^]WinHeist - Windows Electronic Inventory SysTem

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          • J Jun Du

            I don't find many situations where I must use either. Something like while(!done) gives you a control over whether and when to exit, normal or abnormal.

            Best, Jun

            C Offline
            C Offline
            CPallini
            wrote on last edited by
            #31

            Not always. In C applications, for instance, you may know in the middle of the loop that you've to exit and while you may skip the following statements with an if and then use the condition, I prefer an immediate break.

            If the Lord God Almighty had consulted me before embarking upon the Creation, I would have recommended something simpler. -- Alfonso the Wise, 13th Century King of Castile.
            This is going on my arrogant assumptions. You may have a superb reason why I'm completely wrong. -- Iain Clarke
            [My articles]

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            • H Henry Minute

              I have only used them, or their equivalent in other languages, for testing something. Never in production.

              Henry Minute Do not read medical books! You could die of a misprint. - Mark Twain Girl: (staring) "Why do you need an icy cucumber?" “I want to report a fraud. The government is lying to us all.” I wouldn't let CG touch my Abacus! When you're wrestling a gorilla, you don't stop when you're tired, you stop when the gorilla is.

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              L Offline
              Lost User
              wrote on last edited by
              #32

              Same here, useful but risky in the wild.

              Join the cool kids - Come fold with us[^]

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              • W wizardzz

                What are your views on these? How often do you use or see them and in what cases? Just curious, it's a little debate with my project's Architect. To clarify, I don't mean the preference between the 2, but the use of such loops in production.

                "Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside in a cloud of smoke, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming "Wow! What a Ride!" — Hunter S. Thompson

                modified on Thursday, March 10, 2011 12:10 PM

                W Offline
                W Offline
                Wendelius
                wrote on last edited by
                #33

                One version I every now and then use is:

                while (6 * 9 != 42)

                This wouldn't cause an infinite loop since one (particular) day those will be equal :)

                The need to optimize rises from a bad design.My articles[^]

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                • W wizardzz

                  What are your views on these? How often do you use or see them and in what cases? Just curious, it's a little debate with my project's Architect. To clarify, I don't mean the preference between the 2, but the use of such loops in production.

                  "Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside in a cloud of smoke, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming "Wow! What a Ride!" — Hunter S. Thompson

                  modified on Thursday, March 10, 2011 12:10 PM

                  M Offline
                  M Offline
                  Member 96
                  wrote on last edited by
                  #34

                  I just used while(condition); in a unit test to test an async method for retrieving a business object. I can't imagine a use for them in production code though.


                  There is no failure only feedback

                  A 2 Replies Last reply
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                  • M Member 96

                    I just used while(condition); in a unit test to test an async method for retrieving a business object. I can't imagine a use for them in production code though.


                    There is no failure only feedback

                    A Offline
                    A Offline
                    Andy Brummer
                    wrote on last edited by
                    #35

                    That's not even in the same category.

                    Curvature of the Mind now with 3D

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                    • M Member 96

                      I just used while(condition); in a unit test to test an async method for retrieving a business object. I can't imagine a use for them in production code though.


                      There is no failure only feedback

                      A Offline
                      A Offline
                      Andy Brummer
                      wrote on last edited by
                      #36

                      any way, if you are targeting 4.0, check this: SpinUntil[^]

                      Curvature of the Mind now with 3D

                      M 1 Reply Last reply
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                      • W wizardzz

                        What are your views on these? How often do you use or see them and in what cases? Just curious, it's a little debate with my project's Architect. To clarify, I don't mean the preference between the 2, but the use of such loops in production.

                        "Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside in a cloud of smoke, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming "Wow! What a Ride!" — Hunter S. Thompson

                        modified on Thursday, March 10, 2011 12:10 PM

                        D Offline
                        D Offline
                        Dan Neely
                        wrote on last edited by
                        #37

                        X| and X|

                        3x12=36 2x12=24 1x12=12 0x12=18

                        1 Reply Last reply
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                        • A Andy Brummer

                          I think I've used while true a few times, mostly in either complicated parser code, or early on when I was learning threading. It can make sense when side effects and the loop exit criteria are so intertwined that you can't separate them easily to reduce the exit to a single boolean. However, that's a huge flag to refactor/write your code so things aren't so intertwined. If you don't have the time/flexibility to do that, then I'd choose while (true) over creating a convoluted mess of a loop body just to have a boolean value to exit on.

                          Curvature of the Mind now with 3D

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                          D Offline
                          Dan Neely
                          wrote on last edited by
                          #38

                          By the time your code gets too noxious to write a good exit condition, it's also too noxious to easily debug without dismantling the mess first. Unless you can write bugfree codethulus on the first attempt, there's no excuse for letting it get that bad in the first place.

                          3x12=36 2x12=24 1x12=12 0x12=18

                          A 1 Reply Last reply
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                          • A Andy Brummer

                            any way, if you are targeting 4.0, check this: SpinUntil[^]

                            Curvature of the Mind now with 3D

                            M Offline
                            M Offline
                            Member 96
                            wrote on last edited by
                            #39

                            I don't understand your other reply but this one is gold! Thanks for that I'm going to use it immediately.


                            There is no failure only feedback

                            A 1 Reply Last reply
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                            • D Dan Neely

                              By the time your code gets too noxious to write a good exit condition, it's also too noxious to easily debug without dismantling the mess first. Unless you can write bugfree codethulus on the first attempt, there's no excuse for letting it get that bad in the first place.

                              3x12=36 2x12=24 1x12=12 0x12=18

                              A Offline
                              A Offline
                              Andy Brummer
                              wrote on last edited by
                              #40

                              Yeah, I guess I'm too used to batting cleanup and having to pick my battles.

                              Curvature of the Mind now with 3D

                              D 1 Reply Last reply
                              0
                              • M Member 96

                                I don't understand your other reply but this one is gold! Thanks for that I'm going to use it immediately.


                                There is no failure only feedback

                                A Offline
                                A Offline
                                Andy Brummer
                                wrote on last edited by
                                #41

                                All I'm saying is that while(true) { do something repeatedly } sometimes has a place in real code. The other while(checkSharedVariable) {}; is just a good way to kick up your CPU power consumption.

                                Curvature of the Mind now with 3D

                                M 1 Reply Last reply
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                                • A Andy Brummer

                                  All I'm saying is that while(true) { do something repeatedly } sometimes has a place in real code. The other while(checkSharedVariable) {}; is just a good way to kick up your CPU power consumption.

                                  Curvature of the Mind now with 3D

                                  M Offline
                                  M Offline
                                  Member 96
                                  wrote on last edited by
                                  #42

                                  Ahhh! I see. Well it *is* cold in here. ;)


                                  There is no failure only feedback

                                  A 1 Reply Last reply
                                  0
                                  • M Member 96

                                    Ahhh! I see. Well it *is* cold in here. ;)


                                    There is no failure only feedback

                                    A Offline
                                    A Offline
                                    Andy Brummer
                                    wrote on last edited by
                                    #43

                                    :-D

                                    Curvature of the Mind now with 3D

                                    1 Reply Last reply
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                                    • W wizardzz

                                      Ah, I'm going to modify my original post. I wasn't referring to the preference between the 2, but the use of infinite loops, especially if there is no breaks to exit the loop. I guess we have a crash-only design for some applications.

                                      "Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside in a cloud of smoke, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming "Wow! What a Ride!" — Hunter S. Thompson

                                      S Offline
                                      S Offline
                                      Steve Mayfield
                                      wrote on last edited by
                                      #44

                                      Those constructs are usually seen in non-ineractive microprocessor embedded systems - I use them all of the time for the main "idle loop". I rely on a watchdog timer to restart the application if something hangs.

                                      Steve _________________ I C(++) therefore I am

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                                      • A Andy Brummer

                                        Yeah, I guess I'm too used to batting cleanup and having to pick my battles.

                                        Curvature of the Mind now with 3D

                                        D Offline
                                        D Offline
                                        Dan Neely
                                        wrote on last edited by
                                        #45

                                        Unfubarring the mess and then fixing it typically takes me less time than trying to patch the fubar.

                                        3x12=36 2x12=24 1x12=12 0x12=18

                                        1 Reply Last reply
                                        0
                                        • W wizardzz

                                          What are your views on these? How often do you use or see them and in what cases? Just curious, it's a little debate with my project's Architect. To clarify, I don't mean the preference between the 2, but the use of such loops in production.

                                          "Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside in a cloud of smoke, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming "Wow! What a Ride!" — Hunter S. Thompson

                                          modified on Thursday, March 10, 2011 12:10 PM

                                          L Offline
                                          L Offline
                                          Lost User
                                          wrote on last edited by
                                          #46

                                          The only place I can remember using endless loops is in thread procedures. There often is no break, but of course I catch the ThreadAbortException to exit the loop. For example, a 3D rendering thread would be started at the beginning of the application and render as many frames as fast as it can until the thread is ended. Ending threads with an exception always appeared a little strange to me, because this definitely is changing the program flow with exceptions, but at least it has worked as expected up to now.

                                          "I just exchanged opinions with my boss. I went in with mine and came out with his." - me, 2011

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