modulus % operator code example

Example 1: modulo operator

Example: 5 % 2 = 1
Think about it like this:

  Of 5 items, remove as many sets of 2 as you can. Whatever item(s) remains
  is the answer, aka the remainder.

Visual example of 5 % 2:

  Start with 5 items:

    item1, item2, item3, item4, item5
   
  Remove 2:
  
  	item3, item4, item5
  
  Remove another 2:
  
	item5
    
  No more sets of 2 can be removed and there is 1 item remaining. So the answer
  would be 1
  
More general:
n % m
	
  Of n items, choose as many sets of m as you can. Whatever item(s) remains
  is the answer, aka the remainder.

Example 2: what is modulus operator

// given a list of widgets, files, people, etc.
longList = 10000; 
feedbackInterval = 100; // to be used as the modulus

// loop over the list to process each item
for( i=1; i <= longList; i++ ) {
	
  // perform some operation
	
  // mod operation gives feedback once every hundred loops
  if( i % feedbackInterval == 0 ) {
    percentCompleted = ( i / longList ) * 100;
    writeOutput( "#percentCompleted# percent complete. " );
  }
	
}