This guest post is by Brice Helman. Brice has been in the IT Industry for four years and is currently shifting his focus to Show Production and Touring while studying at Full Sail University. He enjoys anything tech related and loves programming as a hobby.
We all experience it everyday. Every time you surf the internet, it’s one script after another that gives you the content that you are looking for. Coders and programmers know it is the essence of every program.
One of the most effective ways to improve the efficiency and scalability in a program is to use loops. The programmer saves time by sending the script into a loop and therefore bypassing the need for more work to be spent adding things in.
In comparison to this technique, have you ever thought about loops in your daily life? How many things are you bypassing by reverting to your routine? Let’s take a look at some examples.
For
The most healthy pattern of a lifestyle is to use a For Loop. Although there is still repetition of the same-old-same-old, a limit is clearly defined. “I will only do this x number of times.” “I will only let this happen x number of times.”
We clearly set boundaries for the things that we do. Sometimes these situations are tedious and we don’t want to do them. Sometimes they are a guilty pleasure and we have to cut ourselves off. How many times have you said, “I’ll just have one more piece of cake?”
For Each
Like the For, the For Each loop also has a point of limitation. At some point, we will stop or cut ourselves off of whatever we have applied the loop to.
The downside of this one, is that this will fire with EACH new object – or in this case, EACH day. “For Each Day that I work here, I must complete 25 TPS Reports.” “For Each Day that I drive to work, I must commute 37 miles down the interstate.” “For Each Day that I am a stay at home parent, I must consume .7 gallons of coffee.”
These tasks don’t last all day and they certainly don’t repeat an extravagant number of times, but the thing is: they reoccur – Everyday! We get burnt out by the same thing happening every 24 hours. Things become so monotonous we can tell the time, to the second, by when things happen.
Do While
I was never a fan of the Do While because, in my opinion, it is for developers that can’t make up their mind. Something could happen that might make this sequence happen again, or it might not. But this is another daily routine style. Some of us live by the philosophy, “Try it. If you like it, do it again” and there is absolutely nothing wrong with that. But think about the hidden dangers of the Do While.
When you got hired into your first job, I’m sure the manager probably said, “This is a new opportunity for you! You never know what kind of experience you might get. Every day could be a different adventure.” So you start out and find out at the bottom of the first day, you have to come back and do it all over. You can put in your two weeks notice of leave, but you still have to wait for the Do While to let go.
Addictions are another danger. Trying something just once can capture you into a habit for a long time. Think of all the times you’ve said, “I’m just gonna do it and see what happens from there.” Chances are, you probably did it again.
While
Lastly is the While Loop. The most classic of them all. Not only are they used most commonly in applications, the While is what keeps us breathing. While !dead, keep living. This is the entire drive to our very lives.
I like to call this the Tolerance Loop. While Loops will terminate when a certain condition is no longer met – better said, when the tolerance of a condition is no longer met, a While Loop will terminate.
Some common phrases indicating the use of a While Loop are: “He is such a bad employee. When he breaks the final straw, I will fire him.” We let our tolerance of a condition go only so far before we have to cut it off.
End
All of these loops contain a crucial element: The Condition. The Conditions are the points at which we cross the line. They change from person to person and they change from day to day.
In code, the conditions are most often expressed by using variables. The reason they have that name is because they can be changed. We all use loops in our lives – it is the Human Function. But let your days vary. In short: focus on the variables in your life.
