Loops in R First, if you are new to programming, you should know that loops are a way to tell the computer that you want to repeat some operation for a number of times. This is a very common task that can be found in many programming languages. For example, let’s say you invited five friends for dinner at your home and the whole cost of four pizzas will be split evenly. Assume now that you must give instructions to a computer on calculating how much each one will pay at the end of dinner.