RECURSION

What is recursion?

a function calls itself

direct recursion indirect recursion

a function calls its invoker

f1
f f2
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Recursion

is an alternative to iteration (loop)

often more "elegant" and concise than a loop sometimes very inefficient a problem can be defined in terms of successive smaller problems of the same type, i.e. recursively eventually the problem gets small enough that the answer is known (base case) reducing the problem size leads to the base case

recursion should be considered when

sometimes the "work" of the algorithm is done after the base case is reached
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Outline of a Recursive Function

if (answer is known) provide the answer else make a recursive call to solve a smaller version of the same problem
base case recursive case - leap of faith
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Factorial (n) - recursive

Factorial (n) = n * Factorial (n-1) for n > 0 Factorial (0) = 1 int RecFact (int n) { if (n > 0) base case return n * RecFact (n-1); else return 1; }

How Recursion Works

a recursive function call is handled like any other function call each recursive call has an activation record on the stack

stores values of parameters and local variables

when base case is reached return is made to previous call

the recursion unwinds

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Recursive Call Tree

RecFact (4)
int RecFact (int n) { if (n > 0) return n * RecFact (n-1); else return 1; } 4 24 6 2

3
2 1 0

1
1
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Factorial (n) - iterative

Factorial (n) = n * (n-1) * (n-2) * ... * 1 for n > 0 Factorial (0) = 1 int IterFact (int n) { int fact =1; for (int i = 1; i <= n; i++) fact = fact * i; return fact; }

Another Recursive Definition

Fibonacci sequence: 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, . 1 for n == 1 fib(n) = 1 for n == 2 fib(n-2) + fib(n-1) for n>2

Tracing fib(6)
6 5 4 3 2 1
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4 3 3 1 2 1 2

When to use recursion?

if recursive and iterative algorithms are of similar efficiency --> iteration if the problem is inherently recursive and a recursive algorithm is less complex to write than an iterative algorithm --> recursion recursion often simpler than iteration when it is not tail recursion or there are multiple recursive calls recursion very inefficient when values are recomputed
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Euclid'sAlgorithm
Finds

the greatest common divisor of two nonnegative integers that are not both 0 Recursive definition of gcd algorithm
gcd (a, b) = a (if b is 0) gcd (a, b) = gcd (b, a % b)

(if b != 0)

Write

a recursive gcd function

prototype? definition?
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 Ackermann's function

A(0, n) = n + 1

A(m+1, 0) = A(m, 1)
A(m+1, n+1) = A(m, A(m+1, n))

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Iterative gcd
int gcd (int a, int b) { int temp; while (b != 0) { temp = b; b = a % b; a = temp; } return a; }
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iterative binary search

bool binarySearch (const int a[ ], int numItems, int item) { bool found = false; int first = 0; int last = numItems 1; while (first <= last && ! found) { mid = (first + last) / 2; if (item == a[mid]) found = true; else if (item > a[mid]) first = mid +1; else last = mid 1; } return found; }
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bool binarySearch(const int a[ ], int first, int last, int item) { if (first > last) return false; // base case 1 (unsuccessful search) else { int mid = (first + last) / 2; if (item == a[mid]) return true; // base case 2 (successful search) else if (item > a[mid]) return binarySearch(a, mid+1, last, item); // X else return binarySearch(a, first, mid-1, item); // Y } }

a = [1 5 9 12 15 21 29 31]
binarySearch(a, 0, 7, 9) true
0, 7, 3

binarySearch(a, 0, 7, 6) false
0, 7, 3

X
0, 2, 1

true

X
0, 2, 1

false

Y true base case 2

2, 2, 2

false

Y
2, 2, 2

X
2, 1,

false

base case 1

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What Does a Compiler Do?

Lexical

analysis

divide a stream of characters into a stream of tokens

total = cost + 0.08 * cost; if ( ( cond1 && ! cond2 ) )

Parsing

do the tokens form a valid program, i.e. follow the syntax rules?

Generate

object code
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BNF (Backus-Naur form)

a

language used to define the syntax rules of a programming language consists of

productions rules for forming some construct of the language meta-terms symbols of BNF terminals appear as shown non-terminals syntax defined by another production

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Syntax Rules

for a simplified boolean expression

bexpr -> bterm || bterm | bterm bterm -> bfactor && bfactor | bfactor bfactor -> !bfactor|(bexpr)|true|false|ident ident -> alpha {alpha|digit|_} alpha -> a .. z | A .. Z digit -> 0 .. 9

meta-terms are in red terminals are in blue non-terminals are in black

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bexpr -> bterm || bterm | bterm

does

a sequence of tokens form a valid bexpr? if (there is a valid bterm) if (nextToken is ||) if (there is a valid bterm) return true else return false else return true else return false
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big Oh Notation
Comparing Algorithms and ADT Data Structures
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Algorithm Efficiency

a measure of the amount of resources consumed in solving a problem of size n

time space

benchmarking code the algorithm, run it with some specific input and measure time taken

better for measuring and comparing the performance of processors than for measuring and comparing the performance of algorithms

Big Oh (asymptotic analysis) provides a formula that associates n, the problem size, with t, the processing time required to solve the problem
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