IfIsLoop

Correction

Here is what's right.

The body of an if-statement either executes, or it does not execute.

Students might mistake if-statements for while-statements.

Conditional: Execute body zero or one times

if (a > 0) {
    a = a - 1;
}

Loop: Execute body zero or more times

while (a > 0) {
    a = a - 1
}

Symptoms

How do you know your students might have this misconception?

• Students claim an if-statement means “ensure that this condition holds”
• Students claim an if-statement “corrects things whenever this condition does not hold”