CN101

Lecture 4-5
Decision Structures and Boolean Logic
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Topics
• The if Statement
• The if-else Statement
• Comparing Strings
• Nested Decision Structures and the if-elif-else Statement
• Logical Operators
• Boolean Variables
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The if Statement
• Control structure: logical design that controls order in
which set of statements execute
• Sequence structure: set of statements that execute in
the order they appear
• Decision structure: specific action(s) performed only if a
condition exists
• Also known as selection structure
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The if Statement (cont’d.)

• In flowchart, diamond represents true/false condition
that must be tested
• Actions can be conditionally executed
• Performed only when a condition is true
• Single alternative decision structure: provides only one
alternative path of execution
• If condition is not true, exit the structure
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The if Statement (cont’d.)

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The if Statement (cont’d.)

• Python syntax:
if condition:
Statement
Statement
• First line known as the if clause
• Includes the keyword if followed by condition
• The condition can be true or false
• When the if statement executes, the condition is tested, and if it is
true the block statements are executed. otherwise, block statements
are skipped
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Boolean Expressions and Relational
Operators
• Boolean expression: expression tested by if statement
to determine if it is true or false
• Example: a > b
• True if a is greater than b; False otherwise
• Relational operator: determines whether a specific
relationship exists between two values
• Example: greater than (>)
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Boolean Expressions and Relational
Operators (cont’d.)
• >= and <= operators test more than one relationship
• It is enough for one of the relationships to exist for the
expression to be true
• == operator determines whether the two operands are
equal to one another
• Do not confuse with assignment operator (=)
• != operator determines whether the two operands are
not equal
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Boolean Expressions and Relational
Operators (cont’d.)
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Example
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Putting It All Together

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Putting It All Together

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Putting It All Together

True
if total >= 10000: total >= 10000

total = total * 0.9

print('Your total is', total)
False total = total * 0.9

print total
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The if-else Statement

• Dual alternative decision structure: two possible paths
of execution
– One is taken if the condition is true, and the other if the
condition is false
• Syntax: if condition:
statements
else:
other statements
• if clause and else clause must be aligned
• Statements must be consistently indented
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The if-else Statement (cont’d.)

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The if-else Statement (cont’d.)

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Exercise
• Write an if statement that assigns 20 to the variable y,
and assigns 40 to the variable z if the variable x is
greater than 100.
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Exercise
• Write a program that reads in a positive integer n from
the user and then prints whether n is even or odd.
Hint: An even number is a multiple of 2. Any multiple of 2
leaves a remainder of zero when divided by 2.
An example run of the program is shown below.
Enter a positive integer: 101
101 is odd
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Comparing Strings
• Strings can be compared using the == and != operators
• String comparisons are case sensitive
• Strings can be compared using >, <, >=, and <=
• Compared character by character based on the ASCII values
for each character
• If shorter word is substring of longer word, longer word is
greater than shorter word
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ASCII Chart
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Comparing Strings (cont’d.)

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Nested Decision Structures and the if-
elif-else Statement
• A decision structure can be nested inside another
decision structure
• Commonly needed in programs
• Example:
• Determine if someone qualifies for a loan, they must meet two
conditions:
• Must earn at least $30,000/year
• Must have been employed for at least two years
• Check first condition, and if it is true, check second condition
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Nested Decision Structures and the if-
elif-else Statement (cont’d.)

• Important to use proper indentation in a nested

decision structure
• Important for Python interpreter
• Makes code more readable for programmer
• Rules for writing nested if statements:
• else clause should align with matching if clause
• Statements in each block must be consistently indented
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The if-elif-else Statement

• if-elif-else statement: special version of a
decision structure
• Makes logic of nested decision structures simpler to write
• Can include multiple elif statements
• Syntax:
if condition_1:
statement(s)
elif condition_2:
statement(s) Insert as many elif clauses
elif condition_3: as necessary.
statement(s)
else
statement(s)
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The if-elif-else Statement (cont’d.)

• Alignment used with if-elif-else statement:

• if, elif, and else clauses are all aligned
• Conditionally executed blocks are consistently indented
• if-elif-else statement is never required, but
logic easier to follow
• Can be accomplished by nested if-else
• Code can become complex, and indentation can cause problematic
long lines
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Logical Operators
• Logical operators: operators that can be used to create
complex Boolean expressions
• and operator and or operator: binary operators, connect
two Boolean expressions into a compound Boolean
expression
• not operator: unary operator, reverses the truth of its
Boolean operand
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The and Operator

• Takes two Boolean expressions as operands
• Creates compound Boolean expression that is true only when
both sub expressions are true
• Can be used to simplify nested decision structures
• Truth table for the and operator
Expression Value of the Expression

False and False False

False and True False
True and False False
True and True True
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The or Operator
• Takes two Boolean expressions as operands
• Creates compound Boolean expression that is true when
either of the sub expressions is true
• Can be used to simplify nested decision structures
• Truth table for the or operator
Expression Value of the Expression

False or False False

False or True True
True or False True
True or True True
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Short-Circuit Evaluation
• Short circuit evaluation: deciding the value of a
compound Boolean expression after evaluating only one
sub expression
• Performed by the or and and operators
• For or operator: If left operand is true, compound
expression is true. Otherwise, evaluate right operand
• For and operator: If left operand is false, compound
expression is false. Otherwise, evaluate right operand
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The not Operator

• Takes one Boolean expressions as operand and reverses
its logical value
• Sometimes it may be necessary to place parentheses around
an expression to clarify to what you are applying the not
operator
• Truth table for the not operator
Expression Value of the Expression

not True False

not False True
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Checking Numeric Ranges with
Logical Operators
• To determine whether a numeric value is within a specific
range of values, use and
• Example: x >= 10 and x <= 20
• Can also be written as: 10 <= x <= 20

if x >= 10 and x <= 20

print('The value is in the acceptable range.')
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Checking Numeric Ranges with
Logical Operators (cont’d)
• To determine whether a numeric value is outside of a
specific range of values, use or
• Example: x < 10 or x > 20

if x < 10 or x > 20
print('The value is outside the acceptable range.')
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Boolean Variables
• Boolean variable: references one of two values, True
or False
• Represented by bool data type
• Commonly used as flags
• Flag: variable that signals when some condition exists in a
program
• Flag set to False à condition does not exist
• Flag set to True à condition exists
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Boolean Variables (cont’d)

• For example, the following code determines whether

the quota of $50,000 of a salesperson has been met:
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Boolean Variables (cont’d)

• The bool variable sales_quota_met can be used as
a flag to indicate whether the sales quota has been met.
We can test the flag in the following way:

or
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Summary
• This chapter covered:
• Decision structures, including:
• Single alternative decision structures
• Dual alternative decision structures
• Nested decision structures
• Relational operators and logical operators as used in creating
Boolean expressions
• String comparison as used in creating Boolean expressions
• Boolean variables
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Exercise
• Write a program that asks the user to enter 3 integers.
The program should display the maximum number.
An example run of the program is shown below.
Enter integer #1: 10
Enter integer #2: 35
Enter integer #3: 9
The maximum number is 35
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Exercise
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