Introduction to Loops in C Language

The chart diagram explains how looping works in programming. The flowchart has been used to understand how loops operate.

The flowchart of the loop contains two main segments:

i. Control Statement: The conditions or criteria that the programmer would like to implement during the loop's execution.
ii. The Body: This segment contains the statements or instructions the programmer desires to repeat until a certain state is achieved.

Illustration of Number Series from 1-10 Using Loops
The flowchart represents generating a number series from 1, 2, 3...up to 10 using loops.

Explanation of the Flowchart:
Step 1: Start the program.

Step2: Declare and initialize i to 1.

Step 3: Test the condition i <= 10.
When i is 1, 1 <= 10 is true, so control moves to the 'show i' statement.
Upon executing that, it shows 1 in the screen.
Next, i = i + 1 is executed. That increments i by 1 making it equal to 2.
It again tests the condition i <= 10. (2 <= 10) is true so the control goes to the 'Show i' statement.
It shows 2 again. The next step i = i + 1 assigns a value `3' to i.
Once again i <= 10 is true.

This process repeats as long as the value of i is less than or equal to 10.
When i becomes 11, controlling the condition i <= 10 becomes false, and thus the loop breaks and control goes out of the loop.

Step 4: Stops the program execution.

Essential Features of Loops:

In the above flowchart, one time initialization and declaration of a loop will occur and will never occur for the next iterations.
If the termination logic of the loop (like i <= 10) never becomes false, the loop will continue to execute infinitely putting the program in an infinite loop.

Disadvantage of loops in Programming.