Nested loops
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Follow up on the Variable names thread below, I would like to ask what is the level of nested loops that is acceptable in general? Most people would agree that three levels is acceptable, but I would say stop at two. The third loops gets a bit messy.
for(int i=0; i<100; i++) { //Okay
for(int j=0; j<100; j++) { //Acceptable
for(int k=0; k<100; k++) { //Messy
}
}
}Add, as comments to the end of the loops, the containing logic and you can have as many nested as required...
for(int i=0; i<100; i++) {
for(int j=0; j<100; j++) { for(int k=0; k<100; k++) { }//int k=0; k<100 }//int j=0; j<100}//int i=0; i<100
“That which can be asserted without evidence, can be dismissed without evidence.”
― Christopher Hitchens
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I like to use Z1, Z2, Z3, etc... Then I can have hundreds and thousands of nested loops
If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader." - John Quincy Adams
You must accept one of two basic premises: Either we are alone in the universe, or we are not alone in the universe. And either way, the implications are staggering” - Wernher von Braun -
Follow up on the Variable names thread below, I would like to ask what is the level of nested loops that is acceptable in general? Most people would agree that three levels is acceptable, but I would say stop at two. The third loops gets a bit messy.
for(int i=0; i<100; i++) { //Okay
for(int j=0; j<100; j++) { //Acceptable
for(int k=0; k<100; k++) { //Messy
}
}
}As many as required, but no more. Limiting the number of nested loops is like prescribing a length for variable names: "Variable names must be at least six characters and no more than 31 characters in length, must begin with an upper case alphabetic character, may not include an underscore, and must consist of one or more complete English words, signified through use of upper case characters at the beginning of each word". Picking names will be like playing Scrabble...
Software Zen:
delete this; -
I like to use Z1, Z2, Z3, etc... Then I can have hundreds and thousands of nested loops
If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader." - John Quincy Adams
You must accept one of two basic premises: Either we are alone in the universe, or we are not alone in the universe. And either way, the implications are staggering” - Wernher von BraunMmmmmm....Hundreds and Thousands[^]
Ideological Purity is no substitute for being able to stick your thumb down a pipe to stop the water
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Problem with that is the indentation gets too large and you keep having to scroll to the right.
Buy a wider monitor.
Ideological Purity is no substitute for being able to stick your thumb down a pipe to stop the water
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Mmmmmm....Hundreds and Thousands[^]
Ideological Purity is no substitute for being able to stick your thumb down a pipe to stop the water
mmmmmmmmmmmm, doughnut :-D
If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader." - John Quincy Adams
You must accept one of two basic premises: Either we are alone in the universe, or we are not alone in the universe. And either way, the implications are staggering” - Wernher von Braun -
Follow up on the Variable names thread below, I would like to ask what is the level of nested loops that is acceptable in general? Most people would agree that three levels is acceptable, but I would say stop at two. The third loops gets a bit messy.
for(int i=0; i<100; i++) { //Okay
for(int j=0; j<100; j++) { //Acceptable
for(int k=0; k<100; k++) { //Messy
}
}
}Is this from a wikipedia study:
Shameel wrote:
Most people would agree that three levels is acceptable
Need custom software developed? I do custom programming based primarily on MS tools with an emphasis on C# development and consulting. I also do Android Programming as I find it a refreshing break from the MS. "And they, since they Were not the one dead, turned to their affairs" -- Robert Frost
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What if you want to iterate over a 3D space plotting each x,y,z in a different colour?
Panic, Chaos, Destruction. My work here is done. Drink. Get drunk. Fall over - P O'H OK, I will win to day or my name isn't Ethel Crudacre! - DD Ethel Crudacre I cannot live by bread alone. Bacon and ketchup are needed as well. - Trollslayer Have a bit more patience with newbies. Of course some of them act dumb - they're often *students*, for heaven's sake - Terry Pratchett
Ok, and what if you want to iterate over points in Hilbert space[^]? Eh?
Tom Clement Serena Software, Inc. www.serena.com articles[^]
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Ok, and what if you want to iterate over points in Hilbert space[^]? Eh?
Tom Clement Serena Software, Inc. www.serena.com articles[^]
You would get HWally to intercept the HPointy Aired HBoss first.
*pre-emptive celebratory nipple tassle jiggle* - Sean Ewington
"Mind bleach! Send me mind bleach!" - Nagy Vilmos
My blog | My articles | MoXAML PowerToys | Mole 2010 - debugging made easier - my favourite utility
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Ok, and what if you want to iterate over points in Hilbert space[^]? Eh?
Tom Clement Serena Software, Inc. www.serena.com articles[^]
I always knew that Hilbert space was infinite dimensional vector space, but I assumed it was a countable infinity. When I glanced at the Wikipedia article, I was kinda surprised to see that you can have a Hilbert space with an uncountable number of dimensions. Now *THAT* would be difficult to iterate across :)
Tom Clement Serena Software, Inc. www.serena.com articles[^]
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Ok, and what if you want to iterate over points in Hilbert space[^]? Eh?
Tom Clement Serena Software, Inc. www.serena.com articles[^]
Is that anything like Dilbert space?
If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader." - John Quincy Adams
You must accept one of two basic premises: Either we are alone in the universe, or we are not alone in the universe. And either way, the implications are staggering” - Wernher von Braun -
Is that anything like Dilbert space?
If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader." - John Quincy Adams
You must accept one of two basic premises: Either we are alone in the universe, or we are not alone in the universe. And either way, the implications are staggering” - Wernher von BraunI think that's what Pete was getting at :)
Tom Clement Serena Software, Inc. www.serena.com articles[^]
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Follow up on the Variable names thread below, I would like to ask what is the level of nested loops that is acceptable in general? Most people would agree that three levels is acceptable, but I would say stop at two. The third loops gets a bit messy.
for(int i=0; i<100; i++) { //Okay
for(int j=0; j<100; j++) { //Acceptable
for(int k=0; k<100; k++) { //Messy
}
}
}How about looping through a n-dimensional table where n>3?
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a) good point. b) never had to do anything like that so don't really care. c) Two: anything else is lunacy and must be stamped out: 2 dimensions is more than enough for anybody!
"If you think it's expensive to hire a professional to do the job, wait until you hire an amateur." Red Adair. nils illegitimus carborundum me, me, me
OK. We shall have a road roller run over you to flatten you into two dimensions. :laugh:
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Shameel wrote:
I would like to ask what is the level of nested loops that is acceptable in general?
Zero! What's Wrong with the For Loop[^]
From that article: Here's a common example: double sum = 0;for (int i = 0; i < array.length; i++) { sum += array[i];} What's going on here? I've been programming for years, and I'm comfortable speed-reading this idiom; it's obviously a summation of a set of values in an array. But to actually read this block of code, I need to process about 30 tokens spread out over four lines. And here are programmers writing pragma, karma and dogma at the beginning of their programs and they have the gall to complain about a for loop? :wtf:
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I never go further than 26 levels, because then I've run out of variables to control the loops with. I could of course start using aa, ab, ac...but that gets confusing.
Wrong of you to use a thru z as control variables. Use a1, a2, ......... and it will not be confusing at all! :laugh:
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ahmed zahmed wrote:
That's just silly.
No, it's not.
ahmed zahmed wrote:
It may be possible to re-factor and re-engineer the algorithm to make fewer loops
That's the whole point of making this post. :-) I've seen loops neck deep where the reviewer would find commiting suicide easier than coming out of it.
If there are nested loops, most of the time they are necessary. The only way to refactor that would be to extract the inner loop(s) into a new method, but that would not remove the loops. If a loop could be refactored into something not requiring the equivalent of a loop (such as recursion), then you should 'refactor your programmer', not your code! ;) So I agree with ahmed zahmed, that in general the notion you expressed is silly. It's quite different if you got nested branching (if or switch statements). There are many ways to rewrite an algorithm in a way that avoids nested branching, and too much nesting often indicates a bad structure that does require refactoring. Of course there are always exception, but in general nested loops cannot be sensibly refactored, whereas nested branching can and often should be.
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As many as required, but no more. Limiting the number of nested loops is like prescribing a length for variable names: "Variable names must be at least six characters and no more than 31 characters in length, must begin with an upper case alphabetic character, may not include an underscore, and must consist of one or more complete English words, signified through use of upper case characters at the beginning of each word". Picking names will be like playing Scrabble...
Software Zen:
delete this;Sounds like a valid password policy!
'As programmers go, I'm fairly social. Which still means I'm a borderline sociopath by normal standards.' Jeff Atwood 'I'm French! Why do you think I've got this outrrrrageous accent?' Monty Python and the Holy Grail
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Follow up on the Variable names thread below, I would like to ask what is the level of nested loops that is acceptable in general? Most people would agree that three levels is acceptable, but I would say stop at two. The third loops gets a bit messy.
for(int i=0; i<100; i++) { //Okay
for(int j=0; j<100; j++) { //Acceptable
for(int k=0; k<100; k++) { //Messy
}
}
}I would say that a rule is ok and if that rule gets broken, a good justification as to why it was broken needs to be given. One can always refactor code to eliminate loops/complexity. I feel that it is especially important if the code needs to be tested to make such a rule. (else the testing cost more money than you're making on the project) Bad Example:
String name[100][100] = fill_string();
void loop_level_1()
{
for(int i=0; i<100; i++)
{
loop_level_2(i);
}
}void loop_level_2(int i)
{
for(int j=0; j<100; j++)
{
loop_level_3(i, j);
}
}void loop_level_3(int i, int j)
{
for(int k=0; k<100; k++)
{
print(k + ": " + name[i][j]);
}
}This way, each function can be tested in isolation.
"Program testing can be used to show the presence of bugs, but never to show their absence." << please vote!! >>
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a) good point. b) never had to do anything like that so don't really care. c) Two: anything else is lunacy and must be stamped out: 2 dimensions is more than enough for anybody!
"If you think it's expensive to hire a professional to do the job, wait until you hire an amateur." Red Adair. nils illegitimus carborundum me, me, me
mark merrens wrote:
c) Two: anything else is lunacy and must be stamped out: 2 dimensions is more than enough for anybody!
That statement pretty much reminds me of
someone once supposedly said:
No one will ever need more than 640KB of memory
In geometry, I can easily think of problems that require 6 or more nested loops. In tensor analysis, double that. I could imagine that top notch physicists and mathematicians may need even more, occasionally. How do you think they model their ideas about 10-, 20- or higher-dimensional space-time? You can not refactor away the need for a nested loop. End of story.
