5.7 While vs For loops

While loop and for loop correspondence

• Both for loops and while loops can be used to count a specific number of loop iterations
• A for loop combined with range() is generally preferred over while loops, since for loops are less likely to become stuck in an infinite loop situation

General Rules:

1. Use a for loop when the number of iterations is computable before entering the loop, as when counting down from X to 0, printing a string N times, etc.
2. Use a for loop when accessing the elements of a container, as when adding 1 to every element in a list, or printing the key of every entry in a dict, etc.
3. Use a while loop when the number of iterations is not computable before entering the loop, as when iterating until a user enters a particular character.