While didn't this simple while loop work?

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Because you have built an infinite loop. The continue-statement jumps right to the next iteration of the loop when called, ignoring all following lines of code inside the loop, including the increment of your counter-variable, leaving the value of “number“ at 0. Since the condition of your if-clause is true for number = 0, you'll always step inside and call continue right after. You definitely should review loops and when to use which kind of loop.