Should I convert FORTRAN code to C?

Steven Ryan smryan at garth.UUCP
Sat Jul 9 04:48:44 AEST 1988


>>Recursion can *always* be
>>eliminated, if necessary by setting up an auxiliary stack.
>
>If you are using an auxiliary stack, then you haven't eliminated recursion,
>you have just moved it from being implicitly done by the function call

Recursion usually refers to direct or indirect self-calling. Using an
explicit auxillary stack with a loop is then elimenating recursion.

An auxillary stack can be added to any loop (sensibly or not), so this means
every loop is potentially recursive. In this case the term 'recursion' no
longer conveys useful information.

It may sound like it's all done with mirrors (it is), but the distinction is
useful.



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