What does infinite loop mean?

A loop whose condition never becomes false, so it never ends. Sometimes wanted (a robot's main loop), often a bug (a loop that forgets to change what it tests).

Also written as: infinite loops

In a lesson

A while whose condition never becomes False runs forever: an infinite loop. Run this one; the simulator stops it once it has printed far too much, but a real robot would carry on until its battery died:

Learn it

• Taught in F2.6 Condition-controlled loops: while Decisions and loops, GCSE

Used in

• A2.3 Recursion versus iteration
• A6.8 Computable problems and the Halting problem
• A6.10 Project: the mission robot

All glossary terms