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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 ...
C, Java, and Python are notable mainstream languages in which all function calls, including tail calls, may cause stack allocation that would not occur with the use of looping constructs; in these languages, a working iterative program rewritten in recursive form may overflow the call stack, although tail call elimination may be a feature that ...
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 ...
To elaborate on the above example, consider a base class with no virtual functions. Whenever the base class calls another member function, it will always call its own base class functions. When we derive a class from this base class, we inherit all the member variables and member functions that were not overridden (no constructors or destructors).
The special case of tail-recursive calls, when a function calls itself, may be more amenable to call elimination than general tail calls. When the language semantics do not explicitly support general tail calls, a compiler can often still optimize sibling calls, or tail calls to functions which take and return the same types as the caller. [3]
A quine's output is exactly the same as its source code. A quine is a computer program that takes no input and produces a copy of its own source code as its only output. The standard terms for these programs in the computability theory and computer science literature are "self-replicating programs", "self-reproducing programs", and "self-copying programs".
In computer science, control flow (or flow of control) is the order in which individual statements, instructions or function calls of an imperative program are executed or evaluated. The emphasis on explicit control flow distinguishes an imperative programming language from a declarative programming language.