java - Why is this loop changed?

Question

I just encountered this decompiled class file of my class:

MyClass

while ((line = reader.readLine()) != null) {
    System.out.println("line: " + line);
    if (i == 0) {
        colArr = line.split(Pattern.quote("|"));

    } else {
        i++;
    }
}

The while loop has been changed to a for loop in the class file:

Decompiled MyClass

for (String[] colArr = null; (line = reader.readLine()) != null; ++i) {
    System.out.println("line: " + line);
    if (i == 0) {
        colArr = line.split(Pattern.quote("|"));
    } else {
    }
}

Why has this loop been changed to a for? I think it might be another way of code optimization by the compiler, I could be wrong. I just wanted to know if it is, what advantages does a for loop provide over a while loop or other loop?
What is the category of such code optimizations?

question from:https://stackoverflow.com/questions/53778436/why-is-this-loop-changed

Answer 1

In this situation changing while() to for() is not an optimization. There is simply no way to know from bytecode which one was used in a source code.

There are many situations when:

while(x)

is the same as:

for(;x;)

Suppose we have a three similar java applications - one with while() statement, and two with corresponting for(). First for() with stopping criterion only like in the standard while(), and second for() also with iterator declaration and incrementation.

APPLICATION #1 - SOURCE

public class While{
    public static void main(String args[]) {
        int i = 0;
        while(i<5){
            System.out.println(i);
            i++;
        }
    }
}

APPLICATION #2 - SOURCE

public class For{
    public static void main(String args[]) {
        int i = 0;
        for(; i<5 ;){
            System.out.println(i);
            i++;
        }
    }
}

APPLICATION #3 - SOURCE

public class For2{
    public static void main(String args[]) {
        for(int i=0;i<5;i++){
            System.out.println(i);
        }
    }
}

If we compile all of them we have got:

APPLICATION #1 - BYTECODE

public class While {
  public While();
    Code:
       0: aload_0
       1: invokespecial #1                  // Method java/lang/Object."<init>":()V
       4: return

  public static void main(java.lang.String[]);
    Code:
       0: iconst_0
       1: istore_1
       2: iload_1
       3: iconst_5
       4: if_icmpge     20
       7: getstatic     #2                  // Field java/lang/System.out:Ljava/io/PrintStream;
      10: iload_1
      11: invokevirtual #3                  // Method java/io/PrintStream.println:(I)V
      14: iinc          1, 1

      17: goto          2
      20: return
}

APPLICATION #2 - BYTECODE

public class For {
  public For();
    Code:
       0: aload_0
       1: invokespecial #1                  // Method java/lang/Object."<init>":()V
       4: return

  public static void main(java.lang.String[]);
    Code:
       0: iconst_0
       1: istore_1
       2: iload_1
       3: iconst_5
       4: if_icmpge     20
       7: getstatic     #2                  // Field java/lang/System.out:Ljava/io/PrintStream;
      10: iload_1
      11: invokevirtual #3                  // Method java/io/PrintStream.println:(I)V
      14: iinc          1, 1
      17: goto          2
      20: return
}

APPLICATION #3 - BYTECODE

public class For2 extends java.lang.Object{
public For2();
  Code:
   0:   aload_0
   1:   invokespecial   #1; //Method java/lang/Object."<init>":()V
   4:   return

public static void main(java.lang.String[]);
  Code:
   0:   iconst_0
   1:   istore_1
   2:   iload_1
   3:   iconst_5
   4:   if_icmpge       20
   7:   getstatic       #2; //Field java/lang/System.out:Ljava/io/PrintStream;
   10:  iload_1
   11:  invokevirtual   #3; //Method java/io/PrintStream.println:(I)V
   14:  iinc    1, 1
   17:  goto    2
   20:  return

}

So you can see, there is no difference associated with for and while usage.