Why use infinite loops?

Question

Another poster asked about preferred syntax for infinite loops.

A follow-up question: Why do you use infinite loops in your code? I typically see a construct like

Answer 1

Infinite loops are useful mostly in daemon/service processes or the main loop in a game. You can even get cute with them, eg:

const bool heatDeathOfTheUniverse = false;
do 
{
     // stuff
} while(!heatDeathOfTheUniverse);

They should not be used to "wait" for things like threads as was suggested by Fry. You can use the Join method of a thread object for that.

However, if you're in a situation where your tech lead says, "infinite loops are verboten & so are multiple method/function returns & breaks" you can also do stuff like this:

bool done = false;
while(!done) 
{
    if(done = AreWeDone()) continue; // continue jumps back to start of the loop   
} 

Of course if you tech lead is forcing you to do such things you should start looking for a new job.

For more details on the continue keyword see this MSDN article.