Continue

What does Continue mean?

In Computing, “Continue” is a statement or Keyword used in programming languages to skip the rest of a loop iteration and proceed with the next iteration. When encountered within a loop structure, the Continue statement forces an immediate exit from the current iteration and proceeds with the next iteration. It is commonly employed to control the flow of a program based on specific conditions or to handle exceptions within a loop.

Applications

The Continue statement finds applications in various programming scenarios:

• Conditional Execution: Continue allows for conditional execution within loops. For instance, IF a certain condition is met within an iteration, the programmer can use Continue to skip the remaining statements and proceed to the next iteration.

• Exception Handling: Continue can be utilized to handle exceptions or errors within loops. By using Continue, the program can skip the problematic iteration and proceed with the next iteration without terminating the loop.

• Early Termination: Continue enables early termination of a loop. If a specific condition is met, Continue can be employed to exit the loop prematurely, improving program efficiency.

• Multiple Loops: Continue can be applied to nested loops, allowing for specific iterations to be skipped in the inner loops while continuing with the outer loop iterations.

History

The Continue statement has its roots in early programming languages such as FORTRAN and ALGOL. In these languages, Continue was used to indicate the next logical step in a sequence. Over time, Continue became a standard feature in many modern programming languages, including C, Java, Python, and JavaScript.

In modern programming, Continue has evolved to become a crucial element for controlling program flow and managing exceptions. It fosters code readability and maintainability by allowing programmers to express complex logic in a concise and structured manner.