2012-06-28
Original: 2012-06-28 on Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal
Transcript
Panel 1 (caption): A "WHILE LOOP" IS A COMPUTING TERM THAT DESCRIBES A LOOP THAT KEEPS CYCLING WHILE A CONDITION IS MET.
[A flowchart on a green background: an arrow flows into a yellow diamond labeled CONDITION. From the diamond, FALSE exits to the right. TRUE exits downward to a blue box labeled STATEMENT, which loops back up to the input arrow.]
Panel 2 (caption): THEY'RE USEFUL FOR REPEATED OPERATIONS
[Code on a black background:]
loneliness = 1
while loneliness < 14
print "AAAAAAH!"
loneliness = loneliness + 1
[Output:]
AAAAAAH!
AAAAAAH!
AAAAAAH!
AAAAAAH!
AAAAAAH!
AAAAAAH!
AAAAAAH!
AAAAAAH!
AAAAAAH!
AAAAAAH!
AAAAAAH!
AAAAAAH!
Panel 3 (caption): THEY'RE ALSO A GOOD DESCRIPTION OF A LOT OF PROGRAMMERS.
[A man holding a bouquet of flowers stands facing a woman.]
Man: DO YOU LOVE ME NOW?
Woman: I TOLD YOU, NO!
Woman: I'LL BE BACK TOMORROW.
Votey:
[Close-up of the woman's face, looking pained/uncomfortable. A caption above her reads:]
inclination toward pity based relationship +1
[A flowchart on a green background: an arrow flows into a yellow diamond labeled CONDITION. From the diamond, FALSE exits to the right. TRUE exits downward to a blue box labeled STATEMENT, which loops back up to the input arrow.]
Panel 2 (caption): THEY'RE USEFUL FOR REPEATED OPERATIONS
[Code on a black background:]
loneliness = 1
while loneliness < 14
print "AAAAAAH!"
loneliness = loneliness + 1
[Output:]
AAAAAAH!
AAAAAAH!
AAAAAAH!
AAAAAAH!
AAAAAAH!
AAAAAAH!
AAAAAAH!
AAAAAAH!
AAAAAAH!
AAAAAAH!
AAAAAAH!
AAAAAAH!
Panel 3 (caption): THEY'RE ALSO A GOOD DESCRIPTION OF A LOT OF PROGRAMMERS.
[A man holding a bouquet of flowers stands facing a woman.]
Man: DO YOU LOVE ME NOW?
Woman: I TOLD YOU, NO!
Woman: I'LL BE BACK TOMORROW.
Votey:
[Close-up of the woman's face, looking pained/uncomfortable. A caption above her reads:]
inclination toward pity based relationship +1
Alt text
A three-panel SMBC comic explaining "while loops" in programming. Panel 1 caption: a while loop keeps cycling while a condition is met. Below is a flowchart: an arrow enters a yellow diamond labeled CONDITION; FALSE exits right, TRUE exits down to a blue STATEMENT box that loops back to the start. Panel 2 caption: they're useful for repeated operations. It shows code on a black screen: loneliness = 1; while loneliness < 14, print "AAAAAAH!", loneliness = loneliness + 1 — followed by twelve lines of output reading "AAAAAAH!". Panel 3 caption: they're also a good description of a lot of programmers. A balding man holding a bouquet of flowers asks a woman, "Do you love me now?" She replies, "I told you, NO!" He says, "I'll be back tomorrow" — looping like the program. Votey: a close-up of the woman's face looking pained, with a caption reading "inclination toward pity based relationship +1," implying his relentless repetition is slowly wearing down her resistance.
Transcribed by Claude Opus 4.8.