Language basics - JavaTech: An Introduction to Scientific and Technical Computing with Java - page 41

where test indicates a boolean expression. If test evaluates to true , then
statement is executed.
Similarly, the conditional if-else statement evaluates a boolean expres-
sion to decide which of two statements to evaluate, as in
if (test)
statement1;
else
statement2;
The statement(s) to evaluate can consist of single, one-line statements or of code
blocks of multiple statements enclosed in braces.
A sequence of conditions can be tested with multiple if tests, as in
if (test1)
statement1;
else if (test2)
statement2;
else if (test3)
statement3;
else
statement4;
2.9.3 Flow control statements
Several types of statements affect the flow or sequence of processing such as
repeating a section of code or jumping over a section of code. Such flow control
statements are essential tools for any type of programming. The following loop
statements repeat the processing of a statement or code block for a number of
times as set by a logic test.
2.9.3.1 The for loop
The for loop goes as follows:
for (start; test; action) statement;
Here statement repeatedly executes until the expression test returns false .
The loop begins with an evaluation of the start and test expressions and, after
each loop, the action expression is evaluated before test is evaluated again.
A typical example goes as
for (int i=0; i < 10; i++) j = i*j;
This begins with the declaration of the integer i initialized to 0 followed by the
evaluation of the test i < 10 . Since the variable i is less than 10, the evaluation of
the j = i*j statement proceeds. The processing “loops back” and evaluates
the i++ expression and then the test is evaluated again. The looping continues
until the test expression returns false .