Conditional Execution

Conditional Execution
Decision control structure

Sequence Control vs Decision
control
• In sequence control all the steps are executed line by line – in the
same order as they appear in the program
• But often we want one set of instructions to be followed if the
condition is met and another set of instructions if not. This is called
decision control.
Motivation
• We all need to alter our decisions when circumstances change.
• E.g. If the weather is fine, I’ll go to market.
• If it starts raining, I’d take a cover
• E.g. If the highway is busy, I’d take a diversion
• E.g. If the pitch takes spin, we would win the match

Motivation
• Similarly, we want our program to alter its decisions when conditions
change.
• E.g. if temperature of laptop > 45 then force shutdown
• E.g. if age of person < 14 don’t allow entry to music concert
• Note that the conditions need to be mathematical to be evaluated by

a computer. That’s where the role of Boolean expressions come.
Boolean expressions
• A Boolean expression is an expression which when evaluated produces a Boolean value. A
Boolean value is either true or false
• 5 = 5 is True or False?
• 6 < 4 is True or False?
• No. of students in this class > 50 – True or False?
• Can these expressions have a third value?
• As can be seen a Boolean expression is made up of 2 operands being compared by an operator.

Boolean expressions
• == compares if the operands have same value. Note that we don’t use = to compare two
values, because it is already assignment operator
• x==y # true if x = y, false otherwise

• x!=y # true if x not equal to y
• x>y #true if x greater than y
• x<y # true if x less than y
• x>=y # true if x greater than or equal to y
• x<=y # true if x less than or equal to y
• x is y # true if x is the same as y
• x is not y # true if x is not the same as y
Note: These are all called comparison operators

Modulus Operator
• Symbol: a%b
• It takes two operands a and b and returns the remainder when a is divided by b
• If a%b is equal to 0, then b divides a
• Example:
5%2 = 1 => 5 = 2*2 + 1
8%3 = 2 => 8 = 2*3 + 2
Logical Operators
• There are 3 logical operators
- and
- or
- not
• Python doesn’t use &&, || and !
• Let x and y be two Boolean expressions, then
x and y is true only when both x and y are true, else it is false
x or y is false only when both x and y are false, else it is true
not x is true if x is false, and false if x is true
Logical Operators
• Example:
- x > 0 and x < 10

It is true only if x is greater than 0 and less than 10, just like plain English
-n%2 == 0 or n%3 == 0
It is true if either or both of the conditions is true, that is, if the number is divisible by 2 or 3
-not (x > y)
It is true if x > y is false, that is, if x is less than or equal to y
Conditional Execution
• In python the decision control instruction can be implemented using:
1. if statement
2. if-else statement (Alternative Execution)
3. if-elif-else statement (Chained Conditionals)
4. Nested if statement (Nested Conditionals)

if-statement
• Syntax
if condition_is_true :
execute_this_statement
- The keyword if tells the interpreter that what follows is a decision control instruction
- condition_is_true is a Boolean expression which evaluates to true. Can be within brackets or

opened.
- Colon is placed after the condition to state which instructions to execute once the condition is true
- The instructions to execute are placed after an indent of 4 spaces. Brackets are optional, but indent
is a must. All the instructions within the intent are treated as one chunk and executed together.
if-statement
• Example
if x > 0 :
print('x is positive’)
The indented block is the body of the if statement. There has to be at least 1 statement.
If there is no statement to execute, you can simply type pass. Example:
if x < 0 :
pass
if-statement
• The interpreter will execute the body of if statement until the statements are within the
indent.
• Once the indent ends, the interpreter exits the if-statement and moves to next
statement, which would always be executed whether the condition satisfies or not.
if-else statement
• Syntax:
• if condition_is_true :
else :
execute_another_statement
• if statement executes a statement when a given condition is true. If we want to execute different statement
when the condition is false, we use the else block.
• else block is followed by a colon and then in the next line we indent to indicate start of the body or block of
statements to execute
if-else statement
• Example:
if x%2 == 0 :
print('x is even')
else :
print('x is odd')
if-elif-else statement
• if-else is used when there are only 2 possibilities
• When there are >2 possibilities, use if-elif-else statement, elif is short for else if
• Syntax:
if possibility1:
elif possibility2
elif possibility3
.
.
.
else:
execute_a_different_statement
if-elif-else statement
if x < y:
print('x is less than y')
elif x > y:
print('x is greater than y')
else:
print('x and y are equal’)
• There is no limit on number of elif statements

• If there is an else clause, it has to be in the end, but there doesn’t have to be.
Nested-if statements
• Nested means if statement inside of an if-statement
if x == y:
print('x and y are equal')
else:
if x < y:
print('x is less than y’)
else:
print('x is greater than y')
Conditional Expressions (ternary if-
else)
• Syntax
a if condition else b
• This is one line equivalent of:

if condition:
else:
Practice
Q – Given a point (x,y), write a program to find out if it lies on x-axis, y-
axis or on the origin, viz.(0,0).
Q – If the 3 sides of a triangle are entered though keyboard, write a

program to check whether the triangle is isosceles, equilateral, scalene
or right angled triangle.
Practice
Q - A school has following rules for grading system:
a. Below 25 - F
b. 25 to 45 - E
c. 45 to 50 - D
d. 50 to 60 - C
e. 60 to 80 - B
f. Above 80 - A
Ask user to enter marks and print the corresponding grade.

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Conditional Execution

Decision control structure

• E.g. If the weather is fine, I’ll go to market.

• If it starts raining, I’d take a cover

• E.g. If the highway is busy, I’d take a diversion

• E.g. If the pitch takes spin, we would win the match

• E.g. if temperature of laptop > 45 then force shutdown

• E.g. if age of person < 14 don’t allow entry to music concert

• Note that the conditions need to be mathematical to be evaluated by

• 6 < 4 is True or False?

• No. of students in this class > 50 – True or False?

• Can these expressions have a third value?

• As can be seen a Boolean expression is made up of 2 operands being compared by an operator.

• x==y # true if x = y, false otherwise

Note: These are all called comparison operators

• If a%b is equal to 0, then b divides a

• Python doesn’t use &&, || and !

• Let x and y be two Boolean expressions, then

- x > 0 and x < 10

2. if-else statement (Alternative Execution)

3. if-elif-else statement (Chained Conditionals)

4. Nested if statement (Nested Conditionals)

- condition_is_true is a Boolean expression which evaluates to true. Can be within brackets or

• There is no limit on number of elif statements

• This is one line equivalent of:

Q – If the 3 sides of a triangle are entered though keyboard, write a

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