Recursion -The Good, the Bad, and the not so Ugly

Introduction

Recursion is a topic most beginner programmers fear and when you get the hang of it, it works like magic (Congrats! Not a noob anymore). When someone introduces recursion, they say it’s basically a function that calls back itself, and your brain goes like WHAAAAAT??

So here’s this GIF which not only gives you a complete mindfuck but also a visual description of what recursion is. Too scary huh? Well, not really. Once, you get an idea of how recursion works and which base case to work with, it runs smooth as ice. Sometimes, you won’t even be able to fathom how your code worked when it did.

 

Well, the mantra for recursion is ” Let recursion do the work for you”.

THE GOOD

1. For all those people who want to make their code look pretty as a picture, recursion is the best way to do that. Recursion makes a code more compact, readable and so very elegant.
 
2. If you can master recursion, it can turn out to be your best friend. Solutions using recursion are easier to strike and code. It also avoids redundancy of code, and your codes are easier to read and maintain.
 
 
stackbuddies

3. Three magic words: tail call optimization: Some functional languages implement this wizardry. So basically, what happens is, if a function’s return expression is a result of a function call, the stack frame is reused instead of pushing a new stack frame in the call stack. Sadly, only a few imperative languages have this wizardry.

The secret magic of tail call


 

THE BAD

A lot of programmers avoid using recursion and believe that it is less efficient than its iterative counterparts.

 1. Recursion can lead to the perils of stack overflow. To understand better, let’s look at the steps for functions call:-
  •  space is carved out on the stack for function arguments and variables.
  •  arguments are copied into this new space
  • control jumps to the function
  • function code runs
  • function results are copied into the new value
  • stack rebounds to its previous position
  • control jumps back to the caller
Mostly, all of these steps consume more time than their iterative counterparts. Therefore, recursive methods are relatively less efficient in those cases.
 
 
recursionagain
 
 
 
2. More importantly, when most programs start, they allocate a single chunk of memory to the stack, if that memory is used, the entire program crashes due to stack overflow.
 
3. Each function call eats up a lot of space. That amount of space isn’t recovered until the function returns. Iterative methods do not suffer from such problems.
 
 
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Frequently Asked Questions

How do you code recursion?

To see code in recursion, you can look up recursive functions in c, recursive functions in python, recursive functions in java, recursive functions in c++ or recursive functions in data structures in general.

What is recursion with an example?

Recursion is the phenomenon in programming where a function, called the recursive function calls itself directly or indirectly based on certain conditions.
Example:
void recursion(int n){
if(n==0) return;
else
recursion(n-1);
}

What is recursion in language?

Recursion in language is the phenomenon of repeating things in a way that it seems similar to the parent thing.

What is recursion used for?

Recursion is used for breaking down a complex problem into a simpler problem.

What is recursive thinking?

Recursive thinking is the process of analysing a problem and breaking it down into smaller problems.

What is recursion syntax?

Recursion syntax is the syntax of writing a recursive call which consists of the name of the recursive call and arguments if any.

Also Read about Learning Recursion in C++.