[Israel.pm] Understanding recursion [was What does this code do?]

[Shlomi Fish]

On Monday 03 May 2004 12:07, Srikanth Madani wrote:
> Shlomi, thanks for the illuminating reply.
>

You're welcome.

> >Now, when to use recursion? Most of the tail-recursion and
> > linear-recursion can be implemented as loops. Still, recursion is
> > sometimes used to clearly illustrate the algorithm, make the code
> > clearer, or calculate the complexity of the algorithm.
>
> I don't see how recursion makes the code clearer.
> When I have to re-engineer code, or investigate a subtle-bug, one of the
> things I do is to examine data flow mentally or on paper. This just doesn't
> work with recursion - my mind has a stack depth of three or four!
>

Well recursion is the same process. You need to think of it as the same 
function calling itself again to perform a certain task. And it somehow 
collects all the steps in between or integrates them into something whole.

> How does one start trying to understand undocumented recursive code?
>

First you need to isolate the recursion and see what it does. Identify its 
type and how it fits into the rest of the function. Then, build a mental 
model of the function as one integrated whole.

A good idea for you may be to read the book "Structure and Interpretation of 
Computer Programs" (at least the first three chapters). This book covers a 
lot of different types of processes using recursions, and you'll probably 
understand it better. Its homepage (where it is available online for free 
reading) is:

http://mitpress.mit.edu/sicp/

Regards,

	Shlomi Fish

> Cheers,
> Srikanth Madani
> Senior Subject Matter Expert @ Amdocs Software GmbH
>
>
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-- 

---------------------------------------------------------------------
Shlomi Fish      shlomif at iglu.org.il
Homepage:        http://shlomif.il.eu.org/

Quidquid latine dictum sit, altum viditur.
        [Whatever is said in Latin sounds profound.]