Why can't tail calls be optimized in JVM-based Lisps?
Main question: I view the most significant application of tail call optimization (TCO) as a translation of a recursive call into a loop (in cases in which the recursive call has a certain form). More precisely, when translated into a machine language, this would usually be translation into some sort of series of jumps. Some Common Lisp and Scheme compilers that compile to native code (e.g. SBCL) can identify tail-recursive code and perform this translation. JVM-based Lisps such as Clojure and ABCL have trouble doing this. What is it about the JVM as a machine that prevents or makes this