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# Introduction | ||
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TODO: add introduction for recursion concept | ||
The ability for something to be defined in terms of itself is called recursion. | ||
Recursive functions are functions that call themselves. | ||
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Suppose that you have a function called `recurse`. | ||
This function is recursive if it calls itself inside its body, like this: | ||
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```js | ||
function recurse() { | ||
// ... | ||
recurse(); | ||
// ... | ||
} | ||
``` | ||
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A recursive function usually has a condition to stop calling itself and return a value, known as a _base case_. | ||
If a base case is missing, in most cases, because it will call itself indefinitely, it would be able to run forever. | ||
In reality, in most of those situations, you'll end up with a "StackSize error": an error raised by the runtime because the _stack_ of function calls has grown beyond a predefined limit because each recursive call adds to this _stack_ until it returns (and it doesn't). | ||
The message of this error is `Maximum call stack size exceeded`. | ||
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```js | ||
function recurse() { | ||
if (baseCondition) { | ||
// stop calling itself | ||
//... | ||
} else { | ||
recurse(); | ||
} | ||
} | ||
``` | ||
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Recursive functions often can be used instead of `for` loops for more succinct code. | ||
For example, take a countdown. | ||
Here's the more intuitive `for` loop approach: | ||
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```js | ||
function countDown(fromNumber) { | ||
for (let i = fromNumber; i > 0; i--) { | ||
console.log(i); | ||
} | ||
} | ||
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countDown(3); // 3, 2, 1 in separate lines | ||
``` | ||
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We could solve this using recursion too: | ||
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```js | ||
function countDown(fromNumber) { | ||
console.log(fromNumber); | ||
if (fromNumber > 1) { | ||
countDown(fromNumber - 1); | ||
} | ||
} | ||
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countDown(3); // same result | ||
``` | ||
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Here, our base case is when `fromNumber` is 1, in which case we don't call `countDown` again. | ||
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Apart from just displaying numbers, recursive functions can be used for more complicated procedures, such as keeping a sum or total. | ||
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```js | ||
function sum(n) { | ||
if (n <= 1) { | ||
return n; | ||
} | ||
return n + sum(n - 1); | ||
} | ||
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sum(3); // 6 | ||
``` |