why is while causing an infinite loop?

Question

I'm testing out a selection sort but keep getting an infite loop.

Everything works fine when I have

while(arr.length > 3)

But when I make it any lower or change it to what it should be it causes an infinite loop in the code.

while(arr.length > 2)

Here is the rest of my code:

 let arr = [55,21,33,11,25] let newArr = []; let smallest = 999999999; let index; function selectionSort() {	while(arr.length > 2) {	//loops through the numbers array	for(i = 0; i < arr.length; i ++) {	// if the item is smaller, than pass it through	if(arr[i] < smallest) {	//change smallest to the arr[i]	smallest = arr[i]	index = i;	}	}	//remove the smallest number from the arr	arr.splice(index, 1)	//push the smallest number to the new arr	newArr.push(smallest)	} } selectionSort()

Have you debugged it? Stepping through it and tracking the values of all your variables at each stage? — Lightness Races in Orbit
– Lightness Races in Orbit, Commented Mar 13, 2019 at 1:47

Kaiido · Accepted Answer · 2019-03-13 01:52:27Z

You need to reset smallest in each loop entries, otherwise once 11 is removed, other values will get compared against it and index never changes (3); and once index is greater than your array's length (at second iteration), your array is never spliced anymore.

let arr = [55, 21, 33, 11, 25] let newArr = []; let index; function selectionSort() { while (arr.length > 2) { let smallest = Infinity; //loops through the numbers array for (i = 0; i < arr.length; i++) { // if the item is smaller, than pass it through if (arr[i] < smallest) { //change smallest to the arr[i] smallest = arr[i] index = i; } } //remove the smallest number from the arr arr.splice(index, 1) //push the smallest number to the new arr newArr.push(smallest) } } selectionSort() console.log(newArr, arr)

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