While

See While loop for while loops in computing.

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While and whilst are conjunctions whose primary meaning is "during the time that". An example is:

The days were hot while we were on vacation.

While and whilst can nowadays legitimately be used in the contrastive sense of although or whereas, provided that it is not ambiguous (although some commentators, such as Eric Partridge, have frowned upon such use):

While I am here, I can ring home.

This sentence can mean either "During the time that I am here, I can ring home" or "although I am here, I can ring home". Alternatively, in some Northern English and Scottish English dialects, while (but not whilst) usually takes the meaning of until, as in: "I shall wait while you are ready."

Whilst is synonymous with while in standard British English, although it sounds slightly old-fashioned, and is rare or archaic in American English.

Reference

"while", Pocket Fowler's Modern English Usage. Ed. Robert Allen. Oxford University Press, 1999

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