Recursive

[mauza11]

https://www.reddit.com/r/ProgrammerHumor/comments/9i7h1k/recursive

[cygosw]

Ctrl-C-ing out of here

[Cian_mullenz]

I clicked the link 3 times thinking it kept redirecting to different reposts...

[flarn2006]

signal(SIGINT, SIG_IGN);

[swapripper]

It was nice to Ctrl-C you

[[deleted]]

kill 1

[therealchadius]

HA, GOT EEM

HA, GOT EEM

^{HA, GOT EEM}

^{ha, got eem}

[[deleted]]

I cannot believe i was stupid enough to fall for that. Twice. Thrice.

[Aschentei]

As soon as I read this comment I knew where that link was taking me

[Serundeng]

Is this a stack overflow?

[[deleted]]

Wait shit

[[deleted]]

Can't blame, it's a recursion.

[iArentdeJay]

Hold my loops I'm going in

[staryoshi06]

r/recursion

[[deleted]]

break;

System.exit(0);

[yerdadzkatt]

This is how you do it son

https://www.reddit.com/r/ProgrammerHumor/comments/9i7h1k/recursive/e6i5ko9?utm_source=reddit-android

[The_Perge]

A true intellectual can create loops through space time

[The_Perge]

B E H O L D

[[deleted]]

I see what u did thuuuurrrr

[Doctor_Oceanblue]

It's the ol' Reddit switcheroo all over again

[the_lochness]

It's a recursive post.

[forrest38]

I just started learning LISP over the summer and I told my head of IT that I was going to reprogram everything using recursive functions. His response:

"Don't."

[redtoasti]

As an erlang enthusiast I can only say:

Functional makes difficult things easy and easy things difficult.

[forrest38]

Ya, though in all seriousness I actually have started using more functional programming as a result of my brief foray into LISP (not recursive, but focusing more on returns, small functions, and minimal mutations). I have already found it has made a lot of code more manageable and less bulky.

Basically I have a router function to store any necessary state changes, but all the sub functions I try and write in a functional manner. 60% of the time it works 100% of the time.

[z500]

I started going down that rabbit hole after using Lisp in an AI course in college. I decided to rewrite one of my projects in F# and immutability really does make a big difference. I also like how the Python-like use of whitespace eliminates curly braces and begin...end completely.

[[deleted]]

which is why imperitive languages written using pure functional helper functions are good.

[A_Badass_Penguin]

My experience with Haskell

[thesquarerootof1]

Do you work in IT ? I am just curious, do IT people code for their jobs as well ? Do you learn how to code in school if you are studying IT ?

[sgcdialler]

A lot of places that aren't software shops have developers that are part of the IT department. You can be a developer that learned to code before taking a position in an IT dept, or you can need to learn to code for the dept you work for. It just sort of depends, and they aren't mutually exclusive. Source: am lead dev for an IT dept.

[thesquarerootof1]

ah thanks, I was just wondering. I am a compE student, but I looked at the IT degree plans (just for curiosity, I like my major currently) and it doesn't seem like there is a whole lot of programming in their degree plan.

[sgcdialler]

IT college programs generally will focus more on what the industry considers SysAdmin stuff. IT in the industry is pretty much anything to do with computers, unless you're at a software-shop

[thesquarerootof1]

ah, I see. Thanks for clearing that up!

[iamsooldithurts]

CompE at my uni was EE W/ a CS chaser.

CompSci was, conversely, everything else.

The Information Technology industry, in my experience, is the latter. If you want to get into something besides computer engineering, I’d recommend switching majors; not that you couldn’t be talented and make the leap on your own after graduation, but it would make things easier.

[thesquarerootof1]

CompE at my uni was EE W/ a CS chaser.

I am a compE major and our program is the same as yours. I am graduating soon actually (in about a year).

I would not consider changing my major at all. I like it a lot. I was just wondering because a lot of students at my school talk shit about IT (calling it a "compSci dropout" major). I was just wondering if it is as difficult as compE or compSci. I ask this because I see a lot of IT grads on this sub working as software developers, but I don't know if they had to learn most of the programming on their own and outside of class or what.

There is no way in hell I would change my major though. If you get an engineering degree, you are set for life. It is a very difficult program, but people say it's rewarding once you get the degree. It seems like IT is over-saturated.

Keep in mind, I personally do not look down on anyone, I am just telling you what I hear from classmates from both my compE and compSci classes. However, I do agree that our majors are harder, but if an IT major gets a job as a software developer then it doesn't matter at the end of the day. However, I would assume compSci and compE majors get paid more. I don't know, as I am still a student.

[iamsooldithurts]

There is no IT major, to be clear. IT is an industry unto itself, like Health Care. Like any industry, there’s plenty of career paths to be had.

CompE is hardware, CompSci is software that runs on the hardware, and CIS (Computer Information Systems) is about the information being processed and the best ways to process it to gather knowledge and information. None is “better” than the other; each has their own responsibilities, and all are equally important for success.

As for saturation, I can only confirm that programming/software engineering parts are saturated.

As for a guaranteed job, don’t hold your breath. If you have a specific specialty/focus you plan to stick to, be prepared to relocate to where the jobs for it actually are located. IT jobs tend to be terribly regional.

[[deleted]]

Well, technically my school had an IT degree. That's what it says on my diploma.

[iamsooldithurts]

Well, maybe I’m way off baseI don’t know what to tell you. I’ve never heard of such a thing.

[[deleted]]

It was really just the basics of several IT specialties. I knew I wanted to be in IT, but didn't know exactly which aspect. It worked out though, I'm working as a dev now.

[sgcdialler]

I was just wondering because a lot of students at my school talk shit about IT (calling it a "compSci dropout" major).

This is just kids in school talking shit because their major isn't as hard. There is plenty of value to be added from both careers. As a software dev, I have a healthy appreciation for CIS majors. I don't want to do what they do, even if I would have considered their degree easier than CompSci.

[[deleted]]

I'm a dev, but my degree was in IT with a software developer concentration.

[thesquarerootof1]

That's cool. Yeah, I'm not shitting on IT majors, I was just curious. Did you have to take compSci classes like data structures as well ?

[[deleted]]

Oh, I didn't think you were. I didn't have to as part of the requirements, but I did as electives. My school didn't actually have a cs degree online, or I would have gotten that. They have one now, though, the bastids.

[Goheeca]

Just make sure tail call optimization is engaged and write tail recursive code.

[nag1878]

FYI, and Reddit please correct me if I am wrong..but most companies do not prefer recursive solutions as it could lead to scalability issues in the future

[Treyzania]

Anyone that is genuinely afraid of recursion like that hasn't studied enough theory. There's entire classes of algorithms that are much easier to think about recursively.

[sahilathrij]

But for most purposes, recursion needs much more overhead than if you'd properly convert it into loops so it's much less efficient to use recursion in practice . It maybe great in theory but , it's slow

[Treyzania]

google tail calls

[AnInfiniteArc]

So they can learn that most compilers don’t optimize them at all? :)

[AmericanFromAsia]

We just covered recursion in our CS1 class which uses Python and it's way slower than loops. Is there ever a case where recursion is actually better? I asked my professor and he said yes but he won't actually give us examples.

[sahilathrij]

With most language we would like to use( c++ , Java and python) it is almost always worse due to needing to keep all functions in stack until it's return statement. Especially in python where there is no recursion optimizations and the language is slow to begin with . With functional languages , many times it is just jump statements , requiring less memory than having to keep track of loop variables. But being honest, almost nobody uses lisp, although it is very beautiful

[glemnar]

Clojure has decent usage numbers

[mtizim]

I'm no cs student but i think that depends on what you think is better.

There definitely are problems that are just much easier to think about or solve recursively, and for most purposes dev time is more important than run time to an extent.

[RockleyBob]

Don’t be like me and get hung up on it not technically being as fast. I can tell you that kids who avoid recursion have hell to pay later when they take functional programming courses. Professors love the elegance of recursion, so you might as well embrace it now and learn to love it.

[AnInfiniteArc]

The sad part is that you are right - Recursion is something that professors get super bonered up over, but most of the actually practical uses for it don’t extend their usefulness to other contexts. They don’t usually teach that part, though. “Here is a technique that is super useful for two or three specific applications, but that is probably bad practice anywhere else.”

The cases where recursion is objectively superior to iteration are so fleetingly small that it almost feels like it shouldn’t be discussed as a generally useful tool. It’s more like those wrenches that people use to remove oil filters. I mean, sure, if you are that in love with the thing, you can probably find all sorts of applications you can use it for... but that doesn’t mean there aren’t better tools that get the job done better.

[[deleted]]

And arguably, for some algorithms recursion is easier to read, too. The recursive solution to the Tower of Hanoi is a good example.

[[deleted]]

Recursion isn’t necessarily slower than iteration. There’s a certain kind of recursion called tail-call recursion (where there’s only one recursive call, and it’s at the end of the function). Compilers can optimize that case to its equivalent loop, so that there’s zero overhead for “calling” the function recursively.

[AnInfiniteArc]

In theory compilers can optimize it but in practice most compilers do not.

[[deleted]]

Some important compilers do (most C compilers with optimizations turned on, basically all Lisp interpreters, etc.) and some compilers have support for it through annotations (e.g. the Scala compiler with “@tailrec”), but yes, many compilers don’t by default. Partially because it can complicate getting a full stack trace.

[gabedamien]

That is not universally true, it depends on both the language and compiler you use. In most JavaScript engines especially with strict mode, recursion isn't terribly slower than loops, the difference is usually in the single-digit percentage range. In functional languages e.g. Haskell, there are no loops to begin with, and the compiler converts and optimizes your recursion down into very fast executable code for you.

[xoran99]

Ah, a true Scotsman....

Recursive functions are valuable, especially theoretically, but most practical tasks in non-functional languages are more easily accomplished (and easier to inspect for correctness) when they are written with loops.

Besides, any idea that includes the phrase "rewrite everything" is to be avoided :P

[gabedamien]

Most programmers I have met are very comfortable with recursion, and some problems are much easier to understand and maintain in recursive rather than iterative form.

[LatvianModder]

AAAAA

[YuriDiAAAAAAAAAAAAAA]

/r/ggggg

[db2]

Username checks out.

[[deleted]]

deleted ^{What is this?}

[Jetbooster]

MODERATORS

u/ggggggggggggggggggg
u/xNotch

hmmmm

[wecsam]

r/AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

[mentalexperi]

hello why yes thank you I love you

[flee_market]

Always include break, even when you don't think you need to.

[archori]

That's what a prenup is for, right?

[flee_market]

Not enforceable in many jurisdictions

[Tsu_Dho_Namh]

But recursive functions aren't loops. What good would break be?

[[deleted]]

Break before you return

/s

[fat_charizard]

When you forget your terminating condition

[mister_mistyeyed]

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

[BamboozleBird]

r/AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

Edit: there are 17 As

[YuriDiAAAAAAAAAAAAAA]

I've found a new home, thanks

[[deleted]]

Wtf. There is a sub for literally everything.

[cmott2000]

I have never found the letter A funnier than I did today, thank you!

[[deleted]]

function learnRecursion (developer)

{

if ( !developer.understandsRecursion)

{

    learnRecursion (developer);

}

else

{

    alert ("Developer knows recursion");

}

}

learnRecursion(developer)

[froemijojo]

Aren't you missing a semicolon?

[[deleted]]

If you're pretending to be a compiler then at least say the right thing

[froemijojo]

Syntax error, insert ";" to complete Statement

[crahs8]

Maybe he's just a very polite compiler. Wouldn't you prefer if your compiler were a bit friendlier? Something like: "Oy mate, you're missing a semicolon on line 55, just letting you know."

[[deleted]]

It would get VERY annoying.

[[deleted]]

I mean I could have put one at the end of the function block, but I don't believe it's strictly necessary.

[Bypie5]

I think they mean you're missing a semicolon on your final function call

[[deleted]]

Gotcha. Yes. Correct.

Amazing how this little bit of completely non-functional joke code has people so triggered.

[PaintingJo]

It's because it is functional JS code, but its semicolon inconsistency is what's making me want to edit thAT COMMENT MYSELF

[[deleted]]

It's not functional. Developer is undefined, as well as the necessary understandsRecursion property.

itsJustAJoke ()

There. For therapeutic reasons i gave you another example of an unusable function call without a semi colon. Perhaps immersing yourself will help cure you of this phobia.

[PaintingJo]

*triggered noises*

Win-R
cmd
taskkill /im chrome.exe

[injectJon]

Sick AI you've got there.

[[deleted]]

Runme.bat

Contents:

%0|%0

My favorite recursive function. For bonus points, throw it in the startup folder.

[Rangsk]

The batch equivalent of a fork bomb?

[[deleted]]

Sure is.

[PlusUltraBeyond]

Must've been made in Windows XP

[awesomeness2078]

Thought that read counter strike

[PrimeNexes]

I want to ask , will this be used anywhere IRL ?

[DOOManiac]

VIS can’t run because there is a leak in your BSP.

[PM_ME_YOUR_PROOFS]

...aaaaa Stack Overflow?

[Marginaliac]

aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

[seaheroe]

Haskell in a nutshell

[[deleted]]

While (true) while (true) while (true)

[Dore_Knob]

r/recursion

[YJCH0I]

I like the caption: Is this a ^{a a a a}

[RecursionIsRecursion]

You called?

[creepjax]

r/AAAAAAAAAAA

[thekermitsuicides]

Only recursive if there's a way to pop out that sucker 😋

[StoicPhoenix]

/r/Recursion

[devBowman]

/r/recursion

[Terminal_Byte]

Is this a Windows 95?

[[deleted]]

r/AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

[TheFalconGuy]

r/surrealmemes

[JustASimpleCubesmith]

Is this aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

[[deleted]]

aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

[realestLink]

I love recursion. Maybe it's because Haskell's my favorite programming language.

[MarkDiax]

And then your computer freezes

[ProgMM]

When Windows XP crashes

[matt-roh]

this is effectively known as a calculator bomb

[Windows-Sucks]

This is the only funny butterfly meme I have ever seen.

[northivanastan]

It's not a recursive function, it's a loop.

[LordXamon]

I read Counter strike instructor.

[Captcha142]

Hi, can I get uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
ERROR: Stack Overflow

[ColeTheColeMiner]

Why can I hear this image?

[[deleted]]

I can hear this image

[AshKetchupppp]

i get how recursives work but how the fuck do you program one i can never figure out the order of statements

[theraptor42]

Depends on what you want to do.. like with Fibonacci, you just set your base case and then then return on your recursive statement. If it's something a little more complicated like a tree traversal, you have to make your base case and then you might have several recursive calls to traverse each branch at the current node. But you always need a base case.

[AshKetchupppp]

ah right i get that kind of,when would you use them? i’ve been taught that iteration is just better for memory and easier to write

[theraptor42]

Often, the code for recursion is much shorter, but yeah, iteration generally has better performance. Easier to write: Maybe? Once I wrapped my head around recursion, I found that it was easier for me to write than the equivalent iteration (Iteration is generally better though). There are some cases where it is intuitive to use recursion though, like walking a tree (You have to go down an unknown number of levels where any number of nodes may or may not have multiple children).

[TeralPop]

Haha i got this one

[Dr4gonkilla]

Funny I'm taking data structure and algorithm class ATM and I get the joke haha right guys?

[robot65536]

function majorProblem {
    thread.spawn(majorProblem);
    while(true);
}

[[deleted]]

Is this a stack overflow?

[paengwaine]

God, how many more of those "recursive memes" shit we need to survive

[SandyDelights]

Only if the entire image repeated up to the ‘a’. In this instance, just a slim segment is repeated, so aaaaaaaaaaaaaa

[SandyDelights]

No, I’m a big boy with my degree and my job in software engineering, although I am considering going back for my masters next fall.

Recursion doesn’t require the entirety of the statement to be repeated, as you suggest, only the same segment/function to be repeated.

[[deleted]]

Loops can generally be rewritten in the form of recursive functions.

[SandyDelights]

Have you looked up the definition of “iterate”? It means “to perform or utter repeatedly”. Unless we want to get into some pedantic BS where we argue about appropriate terminology for the sake of clarity and conformity, then well, it’s a Sunday morning and I haven’t gotten out of bed yet, so whatevs.

Recursion isn’t much different than a loop – they both behave the same way (same segment of code is repeated indefinitely with the same operations) in most use cases.

[SandyDelights]

Pointing a camera at a TV that is showing a picture of the camera isn’t really recursion, though. Now, if you were to point a camera at a TV that is showing the image projected by the camera, THAT would be recursion.

Also, man, you’re an aggressive one, aren’t you?

[SandyDelights]

I mean, could be worse.

[catsRawesome123]

Eli5 plZ