Chapter 3.1 – Blocks, Loops and Branches | Introduction to Programming Using Java

Chapter 3 – Control

The basic building blocks of programs—variables, expressions, assignment statements, and subroutine call statements—were covered in the previous chapter. Starting with this chapter, we look at how these building blocks can be put together to build complex programs with more interesting behavior.

Since we are still working on the level of “programming in the small” in this chapter, we are interested in the kind of complexity that can occur within a single subroutine. On this level, complexity is provided by control structures. The two types of control structures, loops and branches, can be used to repeat a sequence of statements over and over or to choose among two or more possible courses of action. Java includes several control structures of each type, and we will look at each of them in some detail.

This chapter will also begin the study of program design. Given a problem, how can you come up with a program to solve that problem? We’ll look at a partial answer to this question in Section 3.2.

3.1 Blocks, Loops and Branches

The ability of a computer to perform complex tasks is built on just a few ways of combining simple commands into control structures. In Java, there are just six such structures that are used to determine the normal flow of control in a program—and, in fact, just three of them would be enough to write programs to perform any task.

The six control structures are: the block, the while loop, the do..while loop, the for loop, the if statement, and the switch statement. Each of these structures is considered to be a single “statement,” but each is in fact a structured statement that can contain one or more other statements inside itself.

3.1.1 Blocks

The block is the simplest type of structured statement. Its purpose is simply to group a sequence of statements into a single statement. The format of a block is:

{ hstatementsi

}

That is, it consists of a sequence of statements enclosed between a pair of braces, “{” and “}”. (In fact, it is possible for a block to contain no statements at all; such a block is called an empty block, and can actually be useful at times. An empty block consists of nothing but an empty pair of braces.) Block statements usually occur inside other statements, where their purpose is to group together several statements into a unit. However, a block can be legally used wherever a statement can occur.

There is one place where a block is required: As you might have already noticed in the case of the main subroutine of a program, the definition of a subroutine is a block, since it is a sequence of statements enclosed inside a pair of braces.

I should probably note again at this point that Java is what is called a free-format language. There are no syntax rules about how the language has to be arranged on a page. So, for example, you could write an entire block on one line if you want. But as a matter of good programming style, you should lay out your program on the page in a way that will make its structure as clear as possible.

In general, this means putting one statement per line and using indentation to indicate statements that are contained inside control structures. This is the format that I will generally use in my examples.

Here are two examples of blocks:

In the second example, a variable, temp, is declared inside the block. This is perfectly legal, and it is good style to declare a variable inside a block if that variable is used nowhere else but inside the block. A variable declared inside a block is completely inaccessible and invisible from outside that block. When the computer executes the variable declaration statement, it allocates memory to hold the value of the variable. When the block ends, that memory is discarded (that is, made available for reuse).

The variable is said to be local to the block. There is a general concept called the “scope” of an identifier. The scope of an identifier is the part of the program in which that identifier is valid. The scope of a variable defined inside a block is limited to that block, and more specifically to the part of the block that comes after the declaration of the variable.

Chapter 3.1 – Blocks, Loops and Branches | Introduction to Programming Using Java

Chapter 3 – Control

3.1 Blocks, Loops and Branches

3.1.1 Blocks

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