Control Flow in Python

Directing the Execution Path of Your Programs

Presenter:
Tesfaye Fenta
PhD Candidate
Beijing Institute of Technology
Date: November 26, 2025

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 Learning Objectives
• Understand how control flow determines the order in which Python code runs.
• Write and evaluate Boolean expressions and logical operators.
• Use selection statements: if, if-else, if-elif-else, and nested if.
• Use iteration statements: while and for loops with range().
• Work with core collection types: list, tuple, and dictionary.
• Control loops using break and continue.

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 Control Flow

• Control flow describes the order in which your lines of code are run.
• This order is usually different than the sequence in which the lines of code
appear.
• Execution can flow from one place in the code to another, as suggested in
the diagram below.

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Boolean expressions - conditions
• A condition is an expression that evaluates to either True or False.
• An expression that evaluates to either True or False is called a
Boolean expression.

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Cont…

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Logical NOT (not) - Unary Operator

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 Logical AND (and) - Binary Operator

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Logical OR (or) - Binary Operator

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Combining Multiple Logical Operators

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Truth Tables in Python

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Practical Real-World Example

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Cont…

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Cont…

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Cont…

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 Python Control Statements
• In any programming language a program may execute
sequentially, selectively or iteratively.
• Every programming language provides constructs to
support Sequence, Selection and Iteration.
• In Python all these construct can broadly categorized in 2
categories.
A. Conditional Control Construct (Selection, Iteration)
B. Un- Conditional Control Construct ( break, continue)
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Cont…
• Three Ways Programs Execute:
[Link] - Code runs line by line, top to bottom (default behavior)
[Link] - Code chooses which path to take based on conditions
(if/else)
[Link] - Code repeats a block multiple times (loops)

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 Cont…
• What are Constructs?
• Constructs are the building blocks or structures that programming languages
provide to control how code executes.
• Think of them as control flow tools.
• In Python, constructs are keywords and statements that allow you to:
Make decisions
Repeat actions
Jump or skip code
• Two Categories of Control Constructs in Python:
A. Conditional Control Constructs
• These depend on conditions being met (True/False)
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Cont….

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Python If statements

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Cont…

Flow Chart: it is a graphical representation of steps an algorithm to solve a

problem.

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Example

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Python if - else statements

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Example 1

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Example 2

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Python Ladder if else statements (if-elif-else)
• In addition to the if clause, there are two other optional clauses often
used with an if statement. For example:

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Cont…
• if: An if statement must always start with an if clause, which contains the
first condition that is checked. If this evaluates to True, Python runs the
code indented in this if block and then skips to the rest of the code after
the if statement.

• elif: elif is short for "else if." An elif clause is used to check for an
additional condition if the conditions in the previous clauses in the if
statement evaluate to False. As you can see in the example, you can have
multiple elif blocks to handle different situations.

• else: Last is the else clause, which must come at the end of an if statement
if used. This clause doesn't require a condition. The code in an else block
is run if all conditions above that in the if statement evaluate to False. 26
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Cont…

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Example 1

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Example 2

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Cont…

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Python Nested if statements

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Cont

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Cont…

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Example

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 Indentation
• Some other languages use braces to show where blocks of code begin and
end.
• In Python we use indentation to enclose blocks of code.
• For example, if statements use indentation to tell Python what code is
inside and outside of different clauses.

• In Python, indents conventionally come in multiples of four spaces. Be

strict about following this convention, because changing the indentation
can completely change the meaning of the code. If you are working on a
team of Python programmers, it's important that everyone follows the
same indentation convention!
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Python Iteration Statements

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Python while loop

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Cont…

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Cont…

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Example: print 1 to 10 numbers

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Example: Sum of 1 to 10 numbers.

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Python range( ) Function

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 Python for loop
• A for loop in Python repeats a block of code once for each
item in an iterable (a list, range, dict, etc.).

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 Lists

• A list is a collection data type that is ordered and mutable.

• Unlike Sets, Lists allow duplicate elements.
• They are useful for preserving a sequence of data and further iterating over
it.
• Lists are created with square brackets.

• my_list = ["banana", "cherry", "apple"]

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Cont..

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Cont…

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 Tuple
• A tuple is a collection of objects which is ordered and immutable.
• Tuples are similar to lists, the main difference is the immutability.
• In Python tuples are written with round brackets and comma
separated values.

• my_tuple = ("Max", 28, "New York")

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Cont…
• Reasons to use a tuple over a list
• Generally used for objects that belong together.
• Use tuple for heterogeneous (different) datatypes and list for homogeneous
(similar) datatypes.
• Since tuple are immutable, iterating through tuple is slightly faster than with
list.
• Tuples with their immutable elements can be used as key for a dictionary. This
is not possible with lists.
• If you have data that doesn't change, implementing it as tuple will guarantee
that it remains write-protected.
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Cont..

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 Dictionaries
• A dictionary is a collection which is unordered, changeable and
indexed.
• A dictionary consists of a collection of key-value pairs.
• Each key-value pair maps the key to its associated value. A
dictionary is written in braces.
• Each key is separated from its value by a colon (:), and the items
are separated by commas.
• my_dict = {"name":"Max", "age":28, "city":"New York"}

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Looping through dictionary

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Key Differences: while and for loop

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 Un- Conditional Control Construct ( break, continue)
 Break: This statement forcefully terminates the loop
immediately when encountered
 Continue - This statement skips the current iteration of the loop
and proceeds to the next one.
 Example -

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