Pattern: flags

• A flag is a programming pattern: a boolean variable that acts as a signal to the program to determine whether or not the program as a whole or a specific section of the program should run.
  • For example, you can set the flag to True and the program will run continuously until any type of event makes it False. Then the program, loop, or whatever you’re using a flag for will stop, or do something else.

What are the flags in this code?

newlist = []
number = int(input("Enter a number: "))
newlist.append(number)
ascending = True
descending = True
while True:
    next_number = input("Enter a number: ")
    if next_number == '':
        break
    if int(next_number) < number:
        ascending = False
    else:
        descending = False
    newlist.append(int(next_number))
    number = int(next_number)
if ascending:
    print("Sequence is in ascending order")
elif descending:
    print("Sequence is in descending order")
else:
    print("Sequence is not ordered")