Whence for?

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# 1.2. Whence for?

So far we have learned about three different kinds of for loops, so you are probably wondering when to use each one.

A subtantial difference between the notation `for($a=0 ; $a<$b ; $a++)` and between `for $a (0 .. ($b-1))` is that the first accommodates itself to changes in `$b`, while the second will iterate for a constant number of times. Of course, you can make the first one similar to the second by assigning the value of `$b` to a third variable that will remain constant. Still, the second notation is usually safer from that sense.

The `foreach $item (@array)` loop is quite handy, but sometimes when iterating over an array of items the index of the item is of importance. In that case, one may prefer to use a normal `for` loop.

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