recursion

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Recursion is lying to you
2 months ago
- Recursion is elegant for naturally recursive problems (tree walks, divide-and-conquer) but each call consumes stack space, leading to stack overflow at large depths.
- Tail call optimization (TCO) can theoretically reuse stack frames, but JavaScript runtimes rarely implement it reliably; even correctly tail-recursive code may still overflow.
- The Fibonacci example shows that exponential branching and stack overflow are distinct failure modes, requiring different fixes.
- A table of runtime TCO support (May 2026) shows that Chrome/V8, Node.js, Deno, Firefox, Safari, and Bun all lack reliable TCO, so portability cannot be assumed.
- Production-safe alternatives include iterative rewriting and the trampoline pattern, which maintains recursive style while avoiding stack growth.
- Practical checklist: never assume TCO, test with realistic bounds, favor iteration for deep or user-driven input, and treat recursion as a readability tool only for bounded depths.
Beej's Bit Bucket
2 months ago
- Recursion occurs when a function calls itself, which can cause a stack overflow if infinite.
- Recursive calls can be made conditional to stop recursion, e.g., by checking a parameter value.
- Tail recursion happens when the recursive call is the last operation; it can be optimized into a loop.
- Recursive solutions require identifying self-similar subproblems, like in factorial (n! = n × (n-1)!).
- Base cases (e.g., factorial(0) = 1) are essential to stop recursion.
- Recursion can traverse trees (pre-order, in-order, post-order) and perform flood fill by coloring pixels and recursing on neighbors.
- Quicksort recursively partitions sets around a pivot to sort them.
The Feeling of Recursion
3 months ago
- Recursive art is visually appealing and captures feelings of infinite detail and depth.
- Patrick's Parabox and Print Gallery of an Artist provide unique experiences of recursive puzzle gameplay.
- Recursive games can cause disorientation, difficulty in tracking characters, and motion sickness.
- Some games use ASCII levels or disable recursion visuals to change gameplay feel.
- Recursion in games and art often relates to paradoxes and mathematical concepts like induction.
- Games like Manifold Garden show potential but may lack the sense of vastness in recursion.
- Various examples exist across media, including films, custom maps, and other games exploring recursion.
- The article suggests future possibilities for recursion in games, such as warped 3D space.

recursion

Recursion is lying to you

Beej's Bit Bucket

The Feeling of Recursion