For vs While loop | When to use what?

Whenever we are updating the iteration by only 1 count regardless we use for.

If we want to update out iteration based certain count depending on the condition. Then we use while loop.

// Simple array traversal
for(let i = 0; i < arr.length; i++) {
  // i++ means we're moving one step at a time
  console.log(arr[i]);
}

// String traversal
for(let i = 0; i < str.length; i++) {
  // Looking at each character one by one
  console.log(str[i]);
}

WHILE Loop - When increment varies:

// Like in our string encoding problem
let i = 0;
while(i < str.length) {
    // i moves by variable amounts
    i += lengthStr.length + 1 + wordLength;
}


// Binary search example
let left = 0, right = nums.length - 1;
while(left <= right) {
    let mid = Math.floor((left + right) / 2);
    // Moving left or right by varying amounts
    if(nums[mid] < target) left = mid + 1;
    else right = mid - 1;
}

This is why while loops are often better for:

• String parsing with variable-length tokens
• Binary search
• Linked list traversal
• Any scenario where the next position depends on the current data

#basicsOfProgramming #loop