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JavaScript JavaScript Loops, Arrays and Objects Simplify Repetitive Tasks with Loops A Closer Look At Loop Conditions

Posted by shawn007
shawn007
15,408 Points

Note sure why this will not do the same as the question asked.

while ( secret !== 'sesame'){ var secret = prompt("What is the secret password?"); } document.write("You know the secret password. Welcome.");

app.js 
while ( secret !== 'sesame'){
var secret = prompt("What is the secret password?");
}
document.write("You know the secret password. Welcome.");
index.html 
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
  <meta charset="utf-8">
  <title>JavaScript Loops</title>
</head>
<body>
<script src="app.js"></script>
</body>
</html>

3 Answers

Justin Iezzi
Justin Iezzi
18,199 Points
Justin Iezzi
Justin Iezzi
18,199 Points

Hey Shawn,

Remember that Javascript is read from top to bottom. Your while loop is checking a condition for a variable that doesn't exist yet, because it's declared inside of the loop, not before it.

You'll also need to prompt the user before the while loop, so that the loop condition has something to check.

Please feel free to ask for further clarification if needed!

shawn007
shawn007
15,408 Points
shawn007
shawn007
15,408 Points

Justin,

I'm stuck again. I set a var secret as 'none' so that the while loop sees that secret is not equal to 'sesame'. Now i get an error saying "Don't use the var keyword inside the loop. You only need to declare the secret variable once, at the beginning of the script."

My code:

var secret = 'none'; while ('sesame' !== secret) { var secret = prompt("What is the secret password?"); } document.write("You know the secret password. Welcome.");

Note: I have tested this code and it does work like they asked.

Shawn

Justin Iezzi
Justin Iezzi
18,199 Points
Justin Iezzi
Justin Iezzi
18,199 Points

It will technically work the way you've made it. The issue is that you're declaring the secret variable again, which is bad practice, and deep down can cause some issues.

To save the the computer the extra work, we can write it like this -

// If answer is correct, we'll save some performance by skipping the while loop entirely
var secret =  prompt("What is the secret password?"); 

// Since the secret variable has already been created, we can use that instead of creating another variable called secret
while ('sesame' !== secret) { 
    secret = prompt("What is the secret password?"); 
} 

document.write("You know the secret password. Welcome.");
shawn007
shawn007
15,408 Points
shawn007
shawn007
15,408 Points

Justin,

Thanks for the help! Will keep that in mind about the bad practice you mentioned. Will update my notes on that. Thanks again.

Shawn