for loop running infinitely

Question

void writereg() {
  digitalWrite(latchPin, LOW);
  for (int i = 7; i >= 0; i--) {
    digitalWrite(clockPin, LOW);
    Serial.print("wswitch&&&&&&");
    Serial.print(i);
    Serial.print("----------------------");
    digitalWrite(dataPin, switches[i].stat);
    Serial.println(switches[i].stat);
    digitalWrite(clockPin, HIGH);
  }
  digitalWrite(latchPin, HIGH);
  touched = false;
}

I don't understand what's wrong with what I'm doing here, but this for loop runs into an almost infinite loop and prints crazily. I'm a newbie to electronics and Arduino and I don't understand what's wrong here. Please help.

This is my switch class:

struct Swtch
{
  int num;
  bool stat;
  bool touched;
};

Swtch switches[8] = {{1, 0, 0}, {2, 0, 0}, {3, 0, 0}, {4, 0, 0}, {5, 0, 0}, {6, 0, 0}, {7, 0, 0}, {8, 0, 0}};

Answer 1

After a chat with OP, it turned out this was a more complex issue, probably a memory overrun.

This cannot be seen in this small snippet, but the whole program is using memory extensively (global variables and dynamic memory heap allocation).

Heavy use of String variables is a likely explanation for the observed behavior. Also a lot of string literals are putting more pressure on memory in the OP program.

Here are my suggestions:

1. Replace all "..." string literals with flash-stored strings with F("..."). That will reduce the initial SRAM size used.
2. Replace all String variables with pure C-string (char* and char arrays) and use standard C string functions such as strcpy, strcat, strlen, strcmp, strchr... This forces to pre-allocate string to their maximum size, but this can be controlled at compile-time (for string variables defined as global). For this point, I also suggest to read a good tutorial on strings in C language.
3. Use const whenever possible (instead of variables that waste memory)
4. Use the smallest type needed for each variable, e.g. avoid int (2 bytes) when you need to store a boolean value, prefer bool type (only one byte) or even use 1 byte to store 8 boolean values and use boolean logic to manipulate each value.

Answer 2

Like jfpoilpret said, it looks like i is being treated as an unsigned char or uint8_t causing it to never go below zero. Instead it wraps around to 255, the max value of an 8-bit unsigned integer, as you can see in line 9 of your output. The condition to remain in the loop is i >= 0 which means the loop will never exit. A solution is to add a case for if i is above the starting value:

for (int i = 7; i >= 0 && i <= 7; i--) {

I would recommend finding out why int is being treated as uint8_t for any future projects

Answer 3

I have noticed that you have incorrectly declared the switches array.

Your code:

struct Swtch
{
  int num;
  bool stat;
  bool touched;
};

Swtch switches[8] = {{1, 0, 0}, {2, 0, 0}, {3, 0, 0}, {4, 0, 0}, {5, 0, 0}, {6, 0, 0}, {7, 0, 0}, {8, 0, 0}};

It should be:

struct Swtch
{
  int num;
  bool stat;
  bool touched;
};

struct Swtch switches[8] = {{1, 0, 0}, {2, 0, 0}, {3, 0, 0}, {4, 0, 0}, {5, 0, 0}, {6, 0, 0}, {7, 0, 0}, {8, 0, 0}};

Alternatively, you could make a typedef struct:

typedef struct
{
  int num;
  bool stat;
  bool touched;
}Swtch;

Swtch switches[8] = {{1, 0, 0}, {2, 0, 0}, {3, 0, 0}, {4, 0, 0}, {5, 0, 0}, {6, 0, 0}, {7, 0, 0}, {8, 0, 0}};

References:
https://stackoverflow.com/a/32185804/6075112
https://overiq.com/c-programming/101/array-of-structures-in-c/#initializing-array-of-structures https://stackoverflow.com/a/3275389/6075112