A program is more than just a list of commands executed in order; it needs to make decisions and perform repetitive tasks. You can achieve this when you learn how to build logic in Python with control flow. Control flow is the backbone of programming, allowing you to dictate the path your program takes based on different conditions. This is done using conditional statements and loops.
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🤔 How to Make Decisions with Conditional Statements
Conditional statements allow a program to execute certain blocks of code only if a specific condition is met. The most fundamental is the `if` statement. You can extend this with an `else` statement, which provides an alternative block of code to run if the `if` condition is false. For more complex scenarios, you can use the `elif` (else if) statement to check multiple conditions in sequence. This structure is perfect for building logic like a grading system that assigns a letter grade based on a numerical score.
🔁 How to Repeat Tasks with `for` and `while` Loops
Loops are used to repeat a block of code multiple times, which is essential for efficiency. Python offers two main types of loops. A `for` loop is used to iterate over a sequence of items, such as a list of names or a range of numbers. It’s perfect when you know how many times you want the loop to run. A `while` loop, on the other hand, continues to execute as long as a certain condition remains true. This is ideal for situations where you don’t know in advance how many repetitions are needed, such as a countdown timer.
💡 How to Combine Loops and Conditionals for Powerful Logic
The real power of control flow comes from combining loops and conditional statements. You can place an `if` statement inside a loop to make decisions on each iteration. For example, you could write a program that loops through numbers from 1 to 10 and uses an `if` statement to check if each number is even or odd, printing a different message for each case. This combination of repetition and decision-making is the foundation for building almost any complex program.
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Tadese, Girmay. Code Smart with Python Programming Language. Venus Online Software Training, 2024.
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