Why are while and do-while loops preferred over for loops when looping infinitely?

Question

I'm new to programming and am in my first year of computer science and am a bit confused about loops. When it comes to infinite loops, why are while and do-while loops preferred over for loops? I created a simple infinite for loop and it's just as easy as creating a while loop. Is one type of loop faster than the other?

http://stackoverflow.com/questions/6347862/can-a-for-loop-be-written-to-create-an-infinite-loop-or-is-it-only-while-loops-t — assylias, Oct 24 '12 at 22:15
BTW, speaking of speed when dealing with infinite loops sounds... weird. ) — raina77ow, Oct 24 '12 at 22:15

score 6 · Answer 1 · answered Oct 24 '12 at 22:14

6

Because it's easier to write (AND read the intention of) while(true) than for(;;), perhaps?

answered Oct 24 '12 at 22:14

raina77ow

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score 3 · Answer 2 · answered Oct 24 '12 at 22:15

A "for()" loop is pretty much equivalent to initializing an index, declaring a while() condition, and incrementing/decrementing the loop.

There is absolutely no performance difference.

"while (true)" is generally preferred over "for (;;)" except for people like me who've read and revere the original K & R "White Book" - "The C Programming Language" :)

score 2 · Answer 3 · answered Oct 24 '12 at 22:15

2

Neither one is faster than the other. It's just that:

while (true)
{
}

looks more intuitive and human-readable than:

for (; ; )
{
}

answered Oct 24 '12 at 22:15

user1610015

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score 2 · Answer 4 · answered Oct 24 '12 at 22:15

2

while(true) is simpler to read than for(;;) - you don't need to figure out what it means - it's almost spelled out in English.

answered Oct 24 '12 at 22:15

zmbq

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Why are while and do-while loops preferred over for loops when looping infinitely?

4 Answers4