What is tail recursion?

Question

Whilst starting to learn lisp, I\'ve come across the term tail-recursive. What does it mean exactly?

Answer 1

Tail recursion is the life you are living right now. You constantly recycle the same stack frame, over and over, because there's no reason or means to return to a "previous" frame. The past is over and done with so it can be discarded. You get one frame, forever moving into the future, until your process inevitably dies.

_{The analogy breaks down when you consider some processes might utilize additional frames but are still considered tail-recursive if the stack does not grow infinitely.}