Why is this code not being accepted?

Question

I wrote this in VS 2017, it seems to run according to what is asked of the code, but isn't being accepted as an answer.

Program.cs

using System;

namespace Treehouse.CodeChallenges
{
    class Program
    {
        static void Main()
        {
            while (true)
            {
                Console.Write("Enter the number of times to print \"Yay!\": ");

                var yayNumber = Console.ReadLine();

                var realNumber = 0;

                var counter = 0;

                try
                {
                    while (true)
                    {
                        realNumber = int.Parse(yayNumber);

                        if (counter <= realNumber)
                        {
                            Console.WriteLine("Yay!");
                            counter += 1;

                            if (counter == realNumber)
                            {
                                break;
                            }
                        }
                    }
                }
                catch (FormatException)
                {
                    Console.WriteLine("You must enter a whole number.");
                    continue;
                }
                break;
            }
        }
    }
}

Answer 1 · 2017-06-08T00:53:42Z

June 8, 2017 12:53am

It's apparently an infinite loop.

But first, I should mention that you only need to convert the input string to int one time. So you can move it out of the loop and do it once before the loop starts.

Then, I'm guessing that for task 2 they test by entering a "0" value. The way you're controlling the loop iterations might work for positive numbers, but if 0 is entered it will get stuck running forever. But before you add code to check for that specifically let me show you another approach:

The condition clause of a while is really intended to control when the loop stops. It might work to set it to true and then force the loop to end using a break, but it's much more concise to use it as intended. So you could shorten the parse and loop code to just this:

                    realNumber = int.Parse(yayNumber);  // moved out of the loop
                    while (counter < realNumber)
                    {
                        Console.WriteLine("Yay!");
                        counter += 1;
                    }

Now you don't have to do it this way to pass the challenge (assuming you fix the 0 issue another way), but I feel better for showing it to you.

Answer 2 · 2017-06-07T23:40:16Z

June 7, 2017 11:40pm

Be careful about testing a challenge in an external REPL or IDE.

If you have misunderstood the challenge, it's also very likely that you will misinterpret the results.

A program built according to the challenge instructions will prompt and take input one time only, and then either print some "Yay!" messages or an error message. Either way, it will then end.

Your program has an outer loop that causes it to repeat if an invalid number is entered.

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Kevin Jordan

Kevin Jordan

Why is this code not being accepted?

2 Answers

Steven Parker

Steven Parker

It's apparently an infinite loop.

Kevin Jordan

Kevin Jordan

Steven Parker

Steven Parker

Be careful about testing a challenge in an external REPL or IDE.

Kevin Jordan

Kevin Jordan