Question

Consider the following code segment:

int a = 20;
while (/* missing condition */)
{
System.out.println("a = " + a);
}


For which of the following replacements for missing condition will the segment result in an infinite loop (the code will continue running and never stop)?

a) true
b) a < 25
c) a != 0
d) false

Answer 1

The answer to which condition will result in an infinite loop in the given code snippet is a) true. This is because the literal true as the while loop condition ensures that the loop will continue to run indefinitely without a terminating condition.

Step-by-step explanation:

The student's question pertains to identifying a condition in a given code snippet that will result in an infinite loop. The code features a while loop in Java which executes repeatedly as long as its condition is true. Among the provided options, we need to determine which condition will keep the loop running indefinitely.

• a) true: Since the literal true is always true by definition, the loop will run forever, thus resulting in an infinite loop.
• b) a < 25: This condition will not result in an infinite loop because once a equals 25, the condition becomes false and the loop will terminate.
• c) a != 0: Similar to option b, this will not create an infinite loop because if at any point a becomes zero, the loop will stop.
• d) false: If false is used as the condition, the loop will not execute even once as the condition is never true.

Therefore, the correct answer is a) true, which guarantees an infinite loop as the condition for the while loop remains perpetually true.