Trying a infinite loop on JavaScript

Question

I am trying to do a infinite loop, but it only works if I include an 'alert' on it. My code looks like this:

while( tocontinue ){
  // Some code
  alert('Accept to continue');
}

On this way, the user has to click to hide the alerts (for example, on Chrome), and then the loop continues correctly by itself. I need to implement this without any alert. I also tried this:

while( tocontinue ){
  // Some code
  tocontinue = false;
  setTimeout(function(){tocontinue=true},500);
}

And with "window.setTimeout" too, and without the word "function(){}", but it doesn't work. I tried everything: some implementations on JavaScript of a sleep() function, calling the function each X time with setInterval, answers 1 and 3 on this post... :/

Thank you very much for your time.

What are you trying to do? You can implement infinite loop by `while (true)` — Roy Miloh, Sep 23 '13 at 14:30
Asynchronous tasks, like timers, cannot complete until the execution thread is idle, which a `while (true)` will never let it be. — Jonathan Lonowski, Sep 23 '13 at 14:32
I doubt the first example is working. [`continue`](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Reference/Statements/continue) is reserved. — Moritz Roessler, Sep 23 '13 at 14:32
@RoyMiloh I think `continue` here is actually the name of a boolean variable OP is using.. Though I didn't think that was possible.. — jonhopkins, Sep 23 '13 at 14:33
[continue](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Reference/Statements/continue), do not use it as a variable name. — epascarello, Sep 23 '13 at 14:34
If you give us an better idea of what you're trying to accomplish, we may be able to actually help you. — Moritz Roessler, Sep 23 '13 at 14:44
Sorry, I have changed "continue" to "tocontinue" (I was using really a spanish variable name, so I had this mistake on translation, sorry). I'm trying to implement a genetic algorithm, and I want to stop it when I decide (with a button that puts the global variable "tocontinue" to false). Meanwhile, I want a infinite loop. — DanielM, Sep 23 '13 at 14:47

Jonathan Lonowski · Answer 1 · 2013-09-23T15:27:56.300

I'm trying to implement a genetic algorithm, and I want to stop it when I decide (with a button that puts the global variable "tocontinue" to false). Meanwhile, I want a infinite loop.

Well, you won't be able to combine a true infinite loop with user interaction as they'll both be dependent on the same thread being able to work on them exclusively. But, you can get close with a near-instant interval.

var interval = setInterval(function () {
    // some code
}, 10);

Possibly grouping a few iterations together for each round:

var interval = setInterval(function () {
    var limit = 5;
    while (limit--) {
        // some code
    }
}, 10);

But, the interval will keep the iteration going as quickly as possible while still giving some idle time for user interactions, like clicking a particular button to clear the interval.

document.getElementById('stopButton').addEventListener('click', function () {
    clearInterval(interval);
}, false);

Example: http://jsfiddle.net/coiscir/xZBTF/

Thank you very much, Jonathan! There are so many options when you are not sure... I tried setTimeout with and without "function()" word, but not with setInterval. Sorry for my inexperience... Your solution is really elegant, and works very fine. — DanielM, Sep 23 '13 at 15:12

score 3 · Answer 2 · answered Sep 23 '13 at 14:34

3

setInterval() may be more useful here.

function updateLoop() {
   //All the code goes here 
}

setInterval(updateLoop,500);

answered Sep 23 '13 at 14:34

Daniel Jones

188
6

This solution doesn't work for me, with or without brackets :( I said I already tried it. – DanielM Sep 23 '13 at 14:43
Well I'm not sure what more I can do without seeing the source code. – Daniel Jones Sep 23 '13 at 14:49
Yes, I put the content of my while on a new function called "updateLoop", and I called it from a setInterval function, just how Daniel suggest. – DanielM Sep 23 '13 at 14:55

Shiv Singh · Answer 3 · 2014-12-30T05:48:10.853

0

var reader = new XMLHttpRequest() || new ActiveXObject('MSXML2.XMLHTTP');

function loadFile() {

    reader.open('get', 'ccc.txt', true); 
    reader.onreadystatechange = displayContents;
    reader.send(null);
}

function displayContents() {

if(reader.readyState==4) {

var el = document.getElementById('main');

el.innerHTML = reader.responseText;

var data =  el.innerHTML;


 }

   }

edited Dec 30 '14 at 05:48

answered Dec 30 '14 at 05:22

Shiv Singh

1
1

score -2 · Answer 4 · edited Apr 28 '15 at 01:33

-2

for(var I = 7; I >1; i+=3);
console.log(i)

edited Apr 28 '15 at 01:33

digitalextremist

5,952
3
43
62

answered Aug 13 '14 at 00:12

nova_n

1

Trying a infinite loop on JavaScript

4 Answers4