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In computer programming, an infinite loop (or endless loop) [1] [2] is a sequence of instructions that, as written, will continue endlessly, unless an external intervention occurs, such as turning off power via a switch or pulling a plug.
The following example is done in Ada which supports both early exit from loops and loops with test in the middle. Both features are very similar and comparing both code snippets will show the difference: early exit must be combined with an if statement while a condition in the middle is a self-contained construct.
for i from f by b to t while w do # loop body od; All parts except do and od are optional. The for I part, if present, must come first. The remaining parts (from f, by b, to t, while w) can appear in any order. Iterating over a container is done using this form of loop: for e in c while w do # loop body od;
After completing all the statements in the loop body, the condition, (x < 5), is checked again, and the loop is executed again, this process repeating until the variable x has the value 5. It is possible, and in some cases desirable, for the condition to always evaluate to true, creating an infinite loop.
An endless loop is any loop that connects back to its self with no way of getting out. An infinite loop is a loop constructed of an infinite number of instructions and therefore only loops back after an infinite amount of time, or, more practically, never. user:Perry Bebbington. I've never heard infinite loop used to mean this.
However, infinite loops can sometimes be used purposely, often with an exit from the loop built into the loop implementation for every computer language, but many share the same basic structure and/or concept. The While loop and the For loop are the two most common types of conditional loops in most programming languages.
For example, in pseudocode, the program while (true) continue. does not halt; rather, it goes on forever in an infinite loop. On the other hand, the program print "Hello, world!" does halt. While deciding whether these programs halt is simple, more complex programs prove problematic.
When an infinite loop is created intentionally there is usually another control structure that allows termination of the loop. For example, a break statement would allow termination of an infinite loop. Some languages may use a different naming convention for this type of loop. For example, the Pascal and Lua languages have a "repeat until ...