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Info Node: (emacs-lisp-intro.info)No Deferment

(emacs-lisp-intro.info)No Deferment


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Recursion without Deferments
----------------------------

   Let's consider again what happens with the `triangle-recursively'
function.  We will find that the intermediate calculations are deferred
until all can be done.

   Here is the function definition:

     (defun triangle-recursively (number)
       "Return the sum of the numbers 1 through NUMBER inclusive.
     Uses recursion."
       (if (= number 1)                    ; do-again-test
           1                               ; then-part
         (+ number                         ; else-part
            (triangle-recursively          ; recursive call
             (1- number)))))               ; next-step-expression

   What happens when we call this function with a argument of 7?

   The first instance of the `triangle-recursively' function adds the
number 7 to the value returned by a second instance of
`triangle-recursively', an instance that has been passed an argument of
6.  That is to say, the first calculation is:

     (+ 7 (triangle-recursively 6)

The first instance of `triangle-recursively'--you may want to think of
it as a little robot--cannot complete its job.  It must hand off the
calculation for `(triangle-recursively 6)' to a second instance of the
program, to a second robot.  This second individual is completely
different from the first one; it is, in the jargon, a `different
instantiation'.  Or, put another way, it is a different robot.  It is
the same model as the first; it calculates triangle numbers
recursively; but it has a different serial number.

   And what does `(triangle-recursively 6)' return?  It returns the
number 6 added to the value returned by evaluating
`triangle-recursively' with an argument of 5.  Using the robot
metaphor, it asks yet another robot to help it.

   Now the total is:

     (+ 7 6 (triangle-recursively 5)

   And what happens next?

     (+ 7 6 5 (triangle-recursively 4)

   Each time `triangle-recursively' is called, except for the last
time, it creates another instance of the program--another robot--and
asks it to make a calculation.

   Eventually, the full addition is set up and performed:

     (+ 7 6 5 4 3 2 1)

   This design for the function defers the calculation of the first step
until the second can be done, and defers that until the third can be
done, and so on.  Each deferment means the computer must remember what
is being waited on.  This is not a problem when there are only a few
steps, as in this example.  But it can be a problem when there are more
steps.


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