Tail Recursion: The Equivalence of Loops and Recursion
2025-08-12
This article delves into the equivalence of recursive functions and loops, focusing on tail-call optimization. Recursive functions are elegant and easy to reason about, but generally slower due to stack usage for intermediate results. Loops are faster but can be less readable. Tail recursion, where the recursive call is the last operation, allows compilers to optimize it into a loop, preventing stack overflow and improving performance. The article uses example code to compare recursive, iterative, and tail-recursive implementations of a summation function, and concludes with exercises to solidify understanding.
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