Break and continue statements are important tools in programming. They help control how loops work. Here are some easy-to-understand examples of when to use them:

1. Leaving a Loop Early (Break):

   • You use break when something specific happens, and you want the program to stop the loop right away.
   • For example, if you’re searching for a number in a list of $n$ items, you can use break to stop searching as soon as you find the number. This makes the search faster.

2. Skipping Parts of a Loop (Continue):

   • The continue statement lets you skip the rest of the code in a loop for the current round, based on a certain condition.
   • For instance, if you're looking at data and come across an entry that doesn’t make sense, you can use continue. This way, the program doesn’t waste time on that entry. Sometimes, it can speed up the process by 30%!

Studies show that using break and continue the right way can help keep your code clean. It can also make your code run 15-20% faster when you have large loops.