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

Jonathan Grieve
MOD
Jonathan Grieve
Treehouse Moderator 91,253 Points
Posted by Jonathan Grieve
Jonathan Grieve
Treehouse Moderator 91,253 Points

Question about a while loop

Great start to this course by the way :) Learned a lot and reinforced stuff I already knew.

Now I'm showing my ignorance of while loops here I think.

But I worked my way through this code. 

var secret = prompt("What is the secret password?");

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

Which makes sense as the question asks you to give the program a way to ask the question again if the wrong text is typed in the prompt.

But doesn't this do the same even if the the right? "password" is given? Or am I missing something obvious?

Thanks. :)

app.js 
var secret = prompt("What is the secret password?");

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

2 Answers

Aurelio Decock
Aurelio Decock
14,607 Points

As far as I know

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

says: while secret IS NOT sesame -> you know the secret password... and after that it opens a new prompt.

So I think the code should be:

while (secret !== "sesame") {
   secret = prompt("What is the secret password?");
}

document.write("You know the secret password. Welcome.");

Because you jump out of the loop when the secret IS sesame

I'm only a beginner but this is what I think atleast

Dave McFarland
Dave McFarland
Treehouse Teacher
Dave McFarland
Dave McFarland
Treehouse Teacher

That's right Aurelio Decock . while is a loop -- it will repeat over and over again. You don't want to print the message "What is the secret password" UNLESS the user provides the correct password -- that causes the loop to end. So place the document.write() command AFTER the loop.

Jonathan Grieve
Jonathan Grieve
Treehouse Moderator 91,253 Points
Jonathan Grieve
Jonathan Grieve
Treehouse Moderator 91,253 Points

Thanks Dave, So the code I used passed the challenge. Could this be a bug or is it okay for the example? Either way I now understand so thanks for your explanation. :)

Micole Noddle
Micole Noddle
5,797 Points
Micole Noddle
Micole Noddle
5,797 Points

Dave McFarland, I tried Jonathan's code and it was the only code that passed. Aurelio's did not... if his is the correct code, why won't it pass this challenge?

Dave McFarland
Dave McFarland
Treehouse Teacher
Dave McFarland
Dave McFarland
Treehouse Teacher

Hi Micole Noddle

Aurelio didn't post all of the code, just the changes he would make to Jonathan's code. The complete code should include the first prompt like this:

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

But you're write Jonathan's shouldn't pass. I'll fix that.