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In computer science, corecursion is a type of operation that is dual to recursion.Whereas recursion works analytically, starting on data further from a base case and breaking it down into smaller data and repeating until one reaches a base case, corecursion works synthetically, starting from a base case and building it up, iteratively producing data further removed from a base case.
A classic example of recursion is the definition of the factorial function, given here in Python code: def factorial ( n ): if n > 0 : return n * factorial ( n - 1 ) else : return 1 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 ...
In programming languages that support anonymous functions, fixed-point combinators allow the definition and use of anonymous recursive functions, i.e. without having to bind such functions to identifiers. In this setting, the use of fixed-point combinators is sometimes called anonymous recursion. [note 4] [23]
This is mainly of academic interest, particularly to show that the lambda calculus has recursion, as the resulting expression is significantly more complicated than the original named recursive function. Conversely, the use of fixed-pointed combinators may be generically referred to as "anonymous recursion", as this is a notable use of them ...
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 ...
function factorial (n is a non-negative integer) if n is 0 then return 1 [by the convention that 0! = 1] else if n is in lookup-table then return lookup-table-value-for-n else let x = factorial(n – 1) times n [recursively invoke factorial with the parameter 1 less than n] store x in lookup-table in the n th slot [remember the result of n! for ...
An example of a primitive recursive programming language is one that contains basic arithmetic operators (e.g. + and −, or ADD and SUBTRACT), conditionals and comparison (IF-THEN, EQUALS, LESS-THAN), and bounded loops, such as the basic for loop, where there is a known or calculable upper bound to all loops (FOR i FROM 1 TO n, with neither i ...
The factorial function is a common feature in scientific calculators. [73] It is also included in scientific programming libraries such as the Python mathematical functions module [74] and the Boost C++ library. [75]