Recursion

Recursion : Arjen Markus : arjen.markus@wldelft.nl : 2000-10-04

Let me list the ones that have pestered me since yesterday (most come from practical experience):

Using recursion instead of obvious do-loops:

(Careful: I have not checked this one — I just wrote it down!)

Stuff include file with fragments of actual code (parametrised with the odd #define macros to enable customisation), not just prototypes: this is code reuse at its very best!

In modern IDE (Integrated Drive Electronics)s (especially Developer Studio) obscuring the structure of your program as files are concerned is easy:

Get every source file from a different — entirely unrelated — directory and put every 10 or so in a separate project

Do not, I repeat, do not be too thorough about project dependencies Add a few, forget others, make them hierarchical

Change the compile options on a per-project and a per-file basis. In C/C++: define specific macros! I just love the ones that indicate what platform you are on.

Use files with the same name (init.c comes to mind)

Stress the differences between platforms. Even in Java you are not totally isolated from them.

Make use of native file names whenever you can. Put in lots of code to convert / to \ and vice versa.

Use configuration files that are tuned to the platform. Especially useful to distinguish between Windows 95, 98 and NT

In C/C++: use macros for the compiler

In all languages: use different versions of the same code in different files.

In Java: insist on using native methods to do arcane stuff.

Emphasize efficiency:

Clearly, the general way in Calc() to calculate x*x is very cumbersome!

I don’t follow you here.

Use compound logical statements in conjunction with negations:

The for-statement has great powers, which are not often recognised outside the IOCCC contest:

Save old code, by commenting it with various initials:

//AM i = i + l ;  - Redundancy removed, dd 2 oct 2000
//BN  i ++ ;
//
i = i + l ; // Repaired the bug introduced by AM.
//BN

Use graphical characters in comments to distinguish portions of the code:

for ( i = 0, sum = 0 ; i < N ; i ++ )
   {
   // ======= Chapter 3 ================================
   // = Calculate the sum of all things ======================
   sum = sum + array[i] ;
   // ===============================================
   }

This nicely obscures the useful statements.

Use extra elements in an array that have a special value:

(and somewhere, array[0] has been set to -999; the l is intended)

You can get the freshest copy of this page from:

or possibly from your local J: drive (Java virtual drive/mindprod.com website mirror)

http://mindprod.com/feedback/unmain/recursion.html

J:\mindprod\feedback\unmain\recursion.html

Please email your feedback for publication, letters to the editor, errors, omissions, typos, formatting errors, ambiguities, unclear wording, broken/redirected link reports, suggestions to improve this page or comments to Roedy Green :

. If you want your message, your name or email kept confidential, not considered for public posting, please explicitly specify that. Unless you state otherwise, I will treat your message as a letter to the editor that I may or may not publish in the feedback section. After that, it will be too late to retract it. If you disagree with something I said, please quote it and cite the web page where you found it, tell me why you think it is wrong, and, if possible, provide some supporting evidence. Threatening to kill me or spouting obscenities has yet to persuade me to change my mind.

Canadian Mind Products

mindprod.com IP:[65.110.21.43]

view

Your face IP:[38.107.179.212]

Feedback

You are visitor number 11.