Endless for loop when using array.length

user_1076808 0
Viewed 916

Randomly encountered this. When I store array.length in a variable and apply to the for loop condition using operator <= the loop works fine but when I use array.length with the same operator it becomes infinite. 

function map(array, callback) {
  let k =array.length;
   for(let i= 1; i<=k; i++)
     {
      array[i] = callback(array[i]);
     }

    return array;
}
console.log(map([1, 2, 3], addTwo));

This works as expected. But when I use this 

   function map(array, callback) {

    for(let i= 1; i<=array.length; i++)
     {

     array[i] = callback(array[i]);
     }

    return array;
    }
     console.log(map([1, 2, 3], addTwo));

Of course i=0; i<array.length; is the way to do it. But I am curious what's happening inside it.

infinite-loop callback for-loop arrays javascript
2 Answers

In the first case the variable with the length does not change, but in the second, you take the length directly and this change.

let k = array.length;

keeps a length until the iterator reaches an index greater than k.

The other one

for (let i = 1; i <= array.length; i++)
//                 ^

takes the actual length and while the index is compared against the length adds one index to the array for every call at the end of the original array.

user_14476750

You can easily see what happens if you add a console.log in there:

let addTwo = x => x + 2

function map(array, callback) {
  for (let i = 1; i <= array.length; i++) {
    console.log(i, array.length)  // <-- print out i and the length of the array
    array[i] = callback(array[i]);
    if(i==5)  // <-- so we do not run out of memory
     return false
  }
  return array;
}
console.log(map([1, 2, 3], addTwo));

Bottom line is you are saying that the for loop should keep going as long as i is less or equal to the array.length but at the same time once i reaches the actual length of the array we continue to increase both. i via i++ and array.length via array[i] = callback(array[i]); so there is no end in sight.

user_1558190
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