do-while conditions don't stop the loop

Question

I\'ve programmed a Hangman game containing a do-while loop to keep asking the user for letters until they either solved the word or ran out of lives. The weird

Answer 1

while(result != 2 || result != -2); 

Lets think about this for a second. If the result is 2 then the right part of the OR is true (result is not equal to -2). And if the result is -2 then the left side of the OR is true (result is not equal to 2).

Answer 2

Logically, by De Morgan's law,

result != 2 || result != -2

is the same as

!(result == 2 && result == -2)

which is always a true expression.

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The condition should probably be

!(result == complete || result == gameOver)

which, when applying the same law as above, is

result != complete && result != gameOver

(Using the constants - although I would prefer uppercase symbols like GAMEOVER - instead of the magic numbers also makes the code easier to read.)