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

To understand some of the core differences between tail-call recursion and non-tail-call recursion we can explore the .NET implementations of these techniques.

Here is an article with some examples in C#, F#, and C++\CLI: Adventures in Tail Recursion in C#, F#, and C++\CLI.

C# does not optimize for tail-call recursion whereas F# does.

The differences of principle involve loops vs. Lambda calculus. C# is designed with loops in mind whereas F# is built from the principles of Lambda calculus. For a very good (and free) book on the principles of Lambda calculus, see Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs, by Abelson, Sussman, and Sussman.

Regarding tail calls in F#, for a very good introductory article, see Detailed Introduction to Tail Calls in F#. Finally, here is an article that covers the difference between non-tail recursion and tail-call recursion (in F#): Tail-recursion vs. non-tail recursion in F sharp.

If you want to read about some of the design differences of tail-call recursion between C# and F#, see Generating Tail-Call Opcode in C# and F#.

If you care enough to want to know what conditions prevent the C# compiler from performing tail-call optimizations, see this article: JIT CLR tail-call conditions.