Recursion or Iteration?

Question

Is there a performance hit if we use a loop instead of recursion or vice versa in algorithms where both can serve the same purpose? Eg: Check if the given string is a palind

Answer 1

Recursion is better than iteration for problems that can be broken down into multiple, smaller pieces.

For example, to make a recursive Fibonnaci algorithm, you break down fib(n) into fib(n-1) and fib(n-2) and compute both parts. Iteration only allows you to repeat a single function over and over again.

However, Fibonacci is actually a broken example and I think iteration is actually more efficient. Notice that fib(n) = fib(n-1) + fib(n-2) and fib(n-1) = fib(n-2) + fib(n-3). fib(n-1) gets calculated twice!

A better example is a recursive algorithm for a tree. The problem of analyzing the parent node can be broken down into multiple smaller problems of analyzing each child node. Unlike the Fibonacci example, the smaller problems are independent of each other.

So yeah - recursion is better than iteration for problems that can be broken down into multiple, smaller, independent, similar problems.