Welcome to the Treehouse Community

Want to collaborate on code errors? Have bugs you need feedback on? Looking for an extra set of eyes on your latest project? Get support with fellow developers, designers, and programmers of all backgrounds and skill levels here with the Treehouse Community! While you're at it, check out some resources Treehouse students have shared here.

Looking to learn something new?

Treehouse offers a seven day free trial for new students. Get access to thousands of hours of content and join thousands of Treehouse students and alumni in the community today.

Start your free trial

JavaScript JavaScript Loops, Arrays and Objects Simplify Repetitive Tasks with Loops `do ... while` Loops

Scott Wells
Scott Wells
8,715 Points
Posted by Scott Wells
Scott Wells
8,715 Points

Why can't I use the 'false' condition for the 'correctGuess' variable?

The last line of the do while loop is confusing me.

do { guess = prompt('Guess a number between 1 and ' + upper + '.'); guessCount += 1; if (parseInt(guess) === randomNumber) { correctGuess = true; } } while (! correctGuess) <<< this line

Wouldn't 'while (correctGuess = false)' do the same thing? As long as 'correctGuess' remains false, the do while loop repeats?

Can someone please explain the difference and the reasoning behind it?

1 Answer

Steven Parker
Steven Parker
231,268 Points
Steven Parker
Steven Parker
231,268 Points

Well, "correctGuess = false" is an assignment that would set the value to false, perhaps you meant "correctGuess == false" which would test it instead, and would be logically equivalent to "!correctGuess".

The latter form has the advantage of being more concise and doesn't involve a comparison.

Scott Wells
Scott Wells
8,715 Points
Scott Wells
Scott Wells
8,715 Points

That makes sense and I didn't notice my syntax error before. Thank you!