Capella University Control Flow Conditionals and Loops in Python Code Project
Question Description
Control Flow
Control flow is the order in which certain commands and statements are executed and evaluated. These are done through conditionals and loops. The best way to think of this is in the terms of how a bill becomes a law. Here is an example of how laws in the state of Indiana are passed >>
You’ll notice that there is a clear pathway but there can be deviations. The assumed goal is for the bill to become law but there are several steps that it needs to go through in order to process this. There are also alternative pathways and evaluations that need to be made at certain times.
Conditionals and Loops in Python
In python, the two forms of control flow come in conditionals and loops.
Conditionals
Conditionals are also known as if statements. These begin with an if condition with additional conditionals starting with elif and the final one being else. To see this logic mapped out, we will look at the following controller for a robot:
if door_is_closed:
if door_is_locked:
unlock_door()
open_door()
advance()
What is occurring is that our robot is checking if the door is closed. If the door is closed, the robot is checking if it is unlocked. If it is unlocked, the robot will open the door and advance through.
Loops
Loops can be broken into while loops and for loops.
You would use a while loop to loop through code while some condition is true (like boolean true). For instance, if I am building a game using a while loop the code would run once (start the level), and while (playerAlive == true) the main game loop would keep going (this is how something like the original Super Mario was programmed).
A for loop is mostly used to loop through a given number of times ( the length of an array or x number of time /5). Note that the condition for a for loop must still be true, but the condition is usually testing a numeric value and not a boolean.
