Calculating the sum of integers from x to y with a while loop - scala

Question

I'm trying to write a code in Scala to calculate the sum of elements from x to y using a while loop.
I initialize x and y to for instance :
val x = 1
val y = 10
then I write a while loop to increment x :
while (x<y) x = x + 1
But println(x) gives the result 10 so I'm assuming the code basically does 1 + 1 + ... + 1 10 times, but that's not what I want.

Answer 1

One option would be to find the sum via a range, converted to a list:
val x = 1
val y = 10
val sum = (x to y).toList.sum
println("sum = " + sum)
Output:
sum = 55
Demo here:
Rextester

Answer 2

Here's how you would do it using a (yak!) while loop with vars:
var x = 1 // Note that is a "var" not a "val"
val y = 10
var sum = 0 // Must be a "var"
while(x <= y) { // Note less than or equal to
sum += x
x += 1
}
println(s"Sum is $sum") // Sum = 55 (= 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 5 + 6 + 7 + 8 + 9 + 10)
Here's another, more functional, approach using a recursive function. Note the complete lack of var types.
val y = 10
#scala.annotation.tailrec // Signifies add must be tail recursive
def add(x: Int, sum: Int): Int = {
// If x exceeds y, then return the current sum value.
if(x > y) sum
// Otherwise, perform another iteration adding 1 to x and x to sum.
else add(x + 1, sum + x)
}
// Start things off and get the result (55).
val result = add(1, 0)
println(s"Sum is $result") // Sum is 55
Here's a common functional approach that can be used with collections. Firstly, (x to y) becomes a Range of values between 1 and 10 inclusive. We then use the foldLeft higher-order function to sum the members:
val x = 1
val y = 10
val result = (x to y).foldLeft(0)(_ + _)
println(s"Sum is $result") // Sum is 55
The (0) is the initial sum value, and the (_ + _) adds the current sum to the current value. (This is Scala shorthand for ((sum: Int, i: Int) => sum + i)).
Finally, here's a simplified version of the elegant functional version that #TimBiegeleisen posted above. However, since a Range already implements a .sum member, there is no need to convert to a List first:
val x = 1
val y = 10
val result = (x to y).sum
println(s"Sum is $result") // Sum is 55
(sum can be thought of as being equivalent to the foldLeft example above, and is typically implemented in similar fashion.)
BTW, if you just want to sum values from 1 to 10, the following code does this very succinctly:
(1 to 10).sum
Although you can use Scala to write imperative code (which uses vars, while loops, etc. and which inherently leads to shared mutable state), I strongly recommend that you consider functional alternatives. Functional programming avoids the side-effects and complexities of shared mutable state and often results in simpler, more elegant code. Note that all but the first examples are all functional.

Answer 3

var x = 1
var y = 10
var temp = 0
while (x < y) {
temp = temp+x
x = x + 1
}
println(temp)
This gives required result