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The Missing While Loop in
A pack providing safe, step-by-step simulations for businesses.
The pack — https://coda.io/packs/itero-pro-41851
As a consultant, one of the first questions I get from clients with a programming background is, “Where are the loops?” They’re looking for a while loop, a fundamental command that lets you repeat a task until a condition is met. It’s a fair question, and while the simple answer is that Coda's formula language is "declarative," the full story is rooted in Coda's core architecture.
A declarative language focuses on describing what you want, not how to get it. When you write Tasks.Filter(Status="Done"), you're defining a final, desired result. Coda’s reactive engine handles the "how" for you, figuring out the most efficient way to get that list. You don't have to write procedural steps telling it to check row 1, then row 2, then row 3.
This is a deliberate and powerful design choice that makes formulas safer, highly composable, and instantly responsive.
The absence of a traditional while loop isn't because declarative languages can't have them. The reality is that modern tools often blur these lines, mixing paradigms to get the best of both worlds. A great example is SQL. At its heart, SQL is declarative—you describe the data you…
