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A recursive function named foo, which is passed a single parameter, x, and if the parameter is 0 will call a different function named bar and otherwise will call baz, passing x, and also call itself recursively, passing x-1 as the parameter, could be implemented like this in Python:
As a more general class of examples, an algorithm on a tree can be decomposed into its behavior on a value and its behavior on children, and can be split up into two mutually recursive functions, one specifying the behavior on a tree, calling the forest function for the forest of children, and one specifying the behavior on a forest, calling ...
The function calls itself recursively on a smaller version of the input (n - 1) and multiplies the result of the recursive call by n, until reaching the base case, analogously to the mathematical definition of factorial. Recursion in computer programming is exemplified when a function is defined in terms of simpler, often smaller versions of ...
Chains of three or more functions are possible; for example, function 1 calls function 2, function 2 calls function 3, and function 3 calls function 1 again. Indirect recursion is also called mutual recursion , which is a more symmetric term, though this is simply a difference of emphasis, not a different notion.
This can be done either explicitly, by using a higher-order function – passing in a function as an argument and calling it – or implicitly, via reflection features which allow one to access certain functions depending on the current context, especially "the current function" or sometimes "the calling function of the current function".
In mathematics, the successor function or successor operation sends a natural number to the next one. The successor function is denoted by S, so S(n) = n + 1. For example, S(1) = 2 and S(2) = 3. The successor function is one of the basic components used to build a primitive recursive function.
(Here we use the standard notations and conventions of lambda calculus: Y is a function that takes one argument f and returns the entire expression following the first period; the expression . ( ) denotes a function that takes one argument x, thought of as a function, and returns the expression ( ), where ( ) denotes x applied to itself ...
Intuitively, partial function application says "if you fix the first argument of the function, you get a function of the remaining arguments". For example, if function div stands for the division operation x / y , then div with the parameter x fixed at 1 (i.e., div 1) is another function: the same as the function inv that returns the ...