How can “while (i == i) ;” be a non-infinite loop in a single threaded application?

Question

I just got a question that I can\'t answer.

Suppose you have this loop definition in Java:

while (i == i) ;

What is the type of

Answer 1

Think of Nan as the equivalent of exception but uses a magic value within a calculation. Because a calculation failed - eg square root of a negative, divide by zero etc - it makes no sense in comparing them against anything else. After all if divide by zero is a nan is it equivalent to the square root of -2 or square root of -3 ?

Nan allows a calculation that includes a step that returns an invalid answer to complete without introducing extra exceptions. To verify the answer is value simply test for non nandness ( is that's word if not I bags it) via Float.isNan() o equivalent.