Indefinitelywhile

Indefinitelywhile is a term used in discussions of programming language design and pseudo-code to denote an infinite loop that runs for an indeterminate amount of time, continuing until an explicit exit condition is met or the loop is interrupted. It is not a standard keyword in major programming languages, but rather a conceptual construct used to illustrate control-flow patterns.

Origin and status

The word is a portmanteau of indefinitely and while, reflecting a loop whose duration is not predefined. In real-world languages, infinite loops are typically written as while (true) { ... } or for (;;) { ... }. Indefinitelywhile appears mainly in design proposals, educational explanations, and esoteric languages as a way to emphasize perpetual execution without prematurely fixing a termination condition.

Semantics and usage

An indefinitelywhile loop executes its body repeatedly until an exit mechanism is triggered. Exit can come from an explicit break or return statement, an exception, an external interrupt, or cooperative multitasking yields that allow other processes to run. This construct is often used in event-driven programs, servers, or read-evaluate loops where the program must remain active, awaiting input or events.

Syntax and example

In pseudo-code, indefinitelywhile might be written as:

indefinitelywhile {

perform tasks

if exit_condition then break

}

This denotes an infinite loop with an internal exit path via break, mirroring common infinite-loop patterns but highlighting the indeterminate runtime.

Considerations

Indefinitelywhile can lead to high CPU usage if the loop runs without yielding or sleeping. Practical implementations usually incorporate event waiting, sleeps, or asynchronous patterns to avoid busy-waiting and to improve responsiveness and resource usage.

See also: infinite loop, while loop, for loop, event-driven programming.