If Statements and Logic Operators

Lecture Overview

Topics Covered:

1. If/Else Statements - Making decisions in code
2. Logical Operators - Combining conditions with and, or, not
3. Comparison Operators - Testing relationships between values
4. Equality vs Identity - Understanding == vs is
5. Floating Point Comparison - Why floats are tricky
6. Nested Conditionals - Complex decision trees
7. Input Validation - Checking user input before processing

Part 1: Basic If/Else Statements

Why Do We Need Conditionals?

Programs need to make decisions based on different situations:

• Is a student's mark above 50? → Pass or Fail
• Is a user old enough? → Grant or deny access
• Is it raining? → Take umbrella or not

Conditionals allow your program to execute different code based on whether conditions are true or false.

Basic If Statement Syntax