Lecture 4 – Control Structures in

Python.

BBT 4211 - BCOM – Kurui Daniel

Content

• What are control structures?

• Types of Control Structures
• Conditionals
• Loops
• Lab Exercises

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What are control structures?

• Control structures are portions of program code that contain statements

within them and, depending on the circumstances, execute these
statements in a certain way.
• In simple sentence, a control structure is just a decision that the computer
makes.

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 Types of control structures?

• There are typically two kinds: conditionals and loops.

Loops

Conditional

AGE >18 Adult

Finish 12 laps? Race is complete

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Conditionals

• In order for a program to change its behavior depending on the input,

there must a way to test that input.

• Conditionals allow the program to check the values of variables and to

execute (or not execute) certain statements.

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Conditionals cont’d

• Python has the following conditional structures.

• IF
• IF….ELSE
• ELIF
• Nested IF

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 IF Statement

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IF statement

• In Python, If Statement is used for decision making. It will run the body of
code only when IF statement is true.
• When you want to justify one condition while the other condition is not
true, then you use "if statement".
• The easiest method for making a decision in Python is by using the if
statement. The if statement enables you to select the actions to perform if
the evaluated condition is true.
• The syntax of the if statement is:

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IF statement

• In Python, If Statement is used for decision making. It will run the body of
code only when IF statement is true.
• When you want to justify one condition while the other condition is not
true, then you use "if statement".
• The easiest method for making a decision in Python is by using the if
statement. The if statement enables you to select the actions to perform if
the evaluated condition is true.
• The syntax of the if statement is:

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IF statement cont’d

• What do you think the output of this example will be?

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IF statement cont’d

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 IF …ELSE Statement

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IF..ELSE statement

• The if…else statement in Python is used when you need to choose

between one of two alternatives. The else clause in the code will
be executed if the condition for the if statement isn’t met, which allows
you to perform an alternative task.
• The syntax of the if…else statement is:

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IF..ELSE statement

• The if…else statement in Python is used when you need to choose

between one of two alternatives. The else clause in the code will
be executed if the condition for the if statement isn’t met, which allows
you to perform an alternative task.
• The syntax of the if…else statement is:

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IF..ELSE statement cont’d

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IF..ELSE statement cont’d

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IF..ELSE statement cont’d

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 IF..ELIF Statement

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IF..ELIF statement

• The if…elif statement in Python is used when you need to choose between
more than two alternatives.
• The elif clause can be used to create a number of conditions that can be
evaluated.
• The syntax of the statement is:

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IF..ELIF statement

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IF..ELIF statement

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 NESTED IF Statement

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Nested IF statement

• You can place an if (or if…else, if…elif) statement inside another

statement.
• This process is called nesting and enables you to make complex decisions
based on different inputs.
• Here is a sample syntax:

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Nested IF statement
• You can place an if (or if…else, if…elif) statement inside another
statement. This process is called nesting and enables you to make complex
decisions based on different inputs.
• Here is a sample syntax:

• Note how the lines above are indented. The indentation is important
because it informs Python that the indented statement is the second-level
statement.

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Nested IF statement cont’d
• Consider this example

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Nested IF statement cont’d
• Here is the output with some given values

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Use of logical Operators with IF statements
• Logical operators in Python (and, or, not) are often used in
the if, if…else, and if…elif statements.
• They enable you to make multiple comparisons inside a single
statement, such as to determine whether a value is within a certain
range.

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Use of logical Operators with IF statements cont’d
• Consider the following example:

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Use of logical Operators with IF statements cont’d
• Another example

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Use of logical Operators with IF statements cont’d
• Output

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Loops
• Loops execute certain statements while certain conditions are met.
• A loop statement allows us to execute a statement or group of
statements multiple times. The following diagram illustrates a loop
statement

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 Loops

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Loops cont’d
• Python programming language provides following types of loops to
handle looping requirements.
1. While loop
Repeats a statement or group of statements while a given condition is
TRUE. It tests the condition before executing the loop body.
2. For loop
Executes a sequence of statements multiple times and abbreviates the
code that manages the loop variable.
3. Nested loops
You can use one or more loop inside any another while or for loop.

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 While Loop

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While Loop
• The while loop in Python is used to repeatedly execute statements as
long as the given condition is true.
• When the condition becomes false, the program execution is resumed
at the next statement after the body of the while loop.
• The syntax of the while loop is:

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While Loop cont’d
• Here is a simple example of the while loop in action:

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While Loop cont’d

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Real life application of while loop
• You can use a while loop in a situation where you want to send
monthly reminders of customers who have active loans. So while the
loan status is active(not completely paid), send a reminder to the
customer

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 For Loop

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For Loop
• One of the most common looping statements is the for loop.
• The syntax of this loop is:

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For Loop
• Take a look at the following example:

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For Loop with the range() function
• The range() function in Python is often used in for statements to define
the number of loop iterations.
• This built-in function creates lists containing arithmetic progressions.
The syntax of the range() function is:

• The start argument is the starting number. The stop argument is the last
number (which is not included). The step argument is optional and
defines the difference between each number in the sequence.
• Note: If the step argument is omitted, it defaults to 1. If
the start argument is omitted, it defaults to 0. Note that all arguments
have to be integers.

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For Loop with the range() function cont’d
• Here is an example. Let’s say that we want to loop through a for loop 10
times. We can use the range(1, 11) function inside a for statement to do
that:

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For Loop with the range() function cont’d

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 Nested loop statements

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Nested loop statements
• You can place a loop statement inside another loop statement. This
process is called nesting.
• Consider the following example:

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Nested loop statements cont’d
• You can place a loop statement inside another loop statement. This process
is called nesting.
• Consider the following example:

• The simple example above asks the user to enter a number and then prints
all numbers less than that number. The process will continue until the user
enters 0:

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Nested loop statements cont’d

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 That was it!

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Lab Exercise
• Write a python program to accept ones age and printout whether the
individual is an adult or not (adult > 18 years)
• Write a python program to print all integers between 0 and 1000 that
are prime (prime numbers)
• Write a python Program to check whether number is Even or Odd
• Write a python program to accept student’s marks for: Math, Physics,
Chemistry and Biology and print out their grades using the following
grade list : A - >80 B >70 C > 60 D >50 E <50
• Write a python program to accept the year as input and print out
whether it is a leap year or not.

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END
Any Questions?
Thank you!
BBT 4211 - Comp Programming - Kurui Daniel