Cartoon Memes

The classic Road Runner vs. Wile E. Coyote saga gets a programming twist! The Road Runner (left) uses a while loop that checks the condition before running, so he stops safely at the cliff edge. Meanwhile, our poor Coyote friend uses a do-while loop that checks the condition after execution—meaning he'll always run at least once... right off that cliff. This is basically the difference between looking before you leap and leaping before you look. After 15 years of coding, I still occasionally make this mistake and then stare at my monitor with the same expression as that coyote.

The age-old battle between while loops and do-while loops, perfectly illustrated by Road Runner and Wile E. Coyote! The Road Runner checks conditions before running (while loop), safely avoiding the cliff edge. Meanwhile, poor Coyote executes first and checks conditions later (do-while loop), guaranteeing at least one painful fall into the canyon. This is basically every programmer's first encounter with loop selection coming back to haunt them in production. Some bugs you just can't patch mid-air!