Recursion in Visual C++
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Hello, It's been a while since I learned about recursion in Java. Can somebody explain exactly how recursion works in C++? (ie. A recursive function call) Thanks.
Recursion A function can call itself. This is called recursion, and recursion can be direct or indirect. It is direct when a function calls itself; it is indirect recursion when a function calls another function that then calls the first function. Some problems are most easily solved by recursion, usually those in which you act on data and then act in the same way on the result. Both types of recursion, direct and indirect, come in two varieties: those that eventually end and produce an answer, and those that never end and produce a runtime failure. Programmers think that the latter is quite funny (when it happens to someone else). It is important to note that when a function calls itself, a new copy of that function is run. The local variables in the second version are independent of the local variables in the first, and they cannot affect one another directly, any more than the local variables in main() can affect the local variables in any function it calls, as was illustrated in Listing 5.4. To illustrate solving a problem using recursion, consider the Fibonacci series: 1,1,2,3,5,8,13,21,34... Each number, after the second, is the sum of the two numbers before it. A Fibonacci problem might be to determine what the 12th number in the series is. One way to solve this problem is to examine the series carefully. The first two numbers are 1. Each subsequent number is the sum of the previous two numbers. Thus, the seventh number is the sum of the sixth and fifth numbers. More generally, the nth number is the sum of n - 2 and n - 1, as long as n > 2. Recursive functions need a stop condition. Something must happen to cause the program to stop recursing, or it will never end. In the Fibonacci series, n < 3 is a stop condition. The algorithm to use is this: 1. Ask the user for a position in the series. 2. Call the fib() function with that position, passing in the value the user entered. 3. The fib() function examines the argument (n). If n < 3 it returns 1; otherwise, fib() calls itself (recursively) passing in n-2, calls itself again passing in n-1, and returns the sum. If you call fib(1), it returns 1. If you call fib(2), it returns 1. If you call fib(3), it returns the sum of calling fib(2) and fib(1). Because fib(2) returns 1 and fib(1) returns 1, fib(3) will return 2. If you call fib(4), it returns the sum of calling fib(3) and fib(2). We've established that fib(3) returns 2 (by calling fib(2) and fib(1)) and that fib(2) returns 1, so fib(4) will sum these numbers and return
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Recursion A function can call itself. This is called recursion, and recursion can be direct or indirect. It is direct when a function calls itself; it is indirect recursion when a function calls another function that then calls the first function. Some problems are most easily solved by recursion, usually those in which you act on data and then act in the same way on the result. Both types of recursion, direct and indirect, come in two varieties: those that eventually end and produce an answer, and those that never end and produce a runtime failure. Programmers think that the latter is quite funny (when it happens to someone else). It is important to note that when a function calls itself, a new copy of that function is run. The local variables in the second version are independent of the local variables in the first, and they cannot affect one another directly, any more than the local variables in main() can affect the local variables in any function it calls, as was illustrated in Listing 5.4. To illustrate solving a problem using recursion, consider the Fibonacci series: 1,1,2,3,5,8,13,21,34... Each number, after the second, is the sum of the two numbers before it. A Fibonacci problem might be to determine what the 12th number in the series is. One way to solve this problem is to examine the series carefully. The first two numbers are 1. Each subsequent number is the sum of the previous two numbers. Thus, the seventh number is the sum of the sixth and fifth numbers. More generally, the nth number is the sum of n - 2 and n - 1, as long as n > 2. Recursive functions need a stop condition. Something must happen to cause the program to stop recursing, or it will never end. In the Fibonacci series, n < 3 is a stop condition. The algorithm to use is this: 1. Ask the user for a position in the series. 2. Call the fib() function with that position, passing in the value the user entered. 3. The fib() function examines the argument (n). If n < 3 it returns 1; otherwise, fib() calls itself (recursively) passing in n-2, calls itself again passing in n-1, and returns the sum. If you call fib(1), it returns 1. If you call fib(2), it returns 1. If you call fib(3), it returns the sum of calling fib(2) and fib(1). Because fib(2) returns 1 and fib(1) returns 1, fib(3) will return 2. If you call fib(4), it returns the sum of calling fib(3) and fib(2). We've established that fib(3) returns 2 (by calling fib(2) and fib(1)) and that fib(2) returns 1, so fib(4) will sum these numbers and return
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Recursion A function can call itself. This is called recursion, and recursion can be direct or indirect. It is direct when a function calls itself; it is indirect recursion when a function calls another function that then calls the first function. Some problems are most easily solved by recursion, usually those in which you act on data and then act in the same way on the result. Both types of recursion, direct and indirect, come in two varieties: those that eventually end and produce an answer, and those that never end and produce a runtime failure. Programmers think that the latter is quite funny (when it happens to someone else). It is important to note that when a function calls itself, a new copy of that function is run. The local variables in the second version are independent of the local variables in the first, and they cannot affect one another directly, any more than the local variables in main() can affect the local variables in any function it calls, as was illustrated in Listing 5.4. To illustrate solving a problem using recursion, consider the Fibonacci series: 1,1,2,3,5,8,13,21,34... Each number, after the second, is the sum of the two numbers before it. A Fibonacci problem might be to determine what the 12th number in the series is. One way to solve this problem is to examine the series carefully. The first two numbers are 1. Each subsequent number is the sum of the previous two numbers. Thus, the seventh number is the sum of the sixth and fifth numbers. More generally, the nth number is the sum of n - 2 and n - 1, as long as n > 2. Recursive functions need a stop condition. Something must happen to cause the program to stop recursing, or it will never end. In the Fibonacci series, n < 3 is a stop condition. The algorithm to use is this: 1. Ask the user for a position in the series. 2. Call the fib() function with that position, passing in the value the user entered. 3. The fib() function examines the argument (n). If n < 3 it returns 1; otherwise, fib() calls itself (recursively) passing in n-2, calls itself again passing in n-1, and returns the sum. If you call fib(1), it returns 1. If you call fib(2), it returns 1. If you call fib(3), it returns the sum of calling fib(2) and fib(1). Because fib(2) returns 1 and fib(1) returns 1, fib(3) will return 2. If you call fib(4), it returns the sum of calling fib(3) and fib(2). We've established that fib(3) returns 2 (by calling fib(2) and fib(1)) and that fib(2) returns 1, so fib(4) will sum these numbers and return
Why don't you just post a link next time? http://newdata.box.sk/bx/c/htm/ch05.htm#Heading43
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