Week 7: Recursion

Recursion is the technique of being clean and smooth by dividing a big problem into similar sub problems and solving it as it is. The basic idea behind recursion is to solve those sub problems since they are more easily solved and thus, put them altogether as the final solution. One thing I have learned is that anything you can do with recursion could also be done using iterative loops. Obviously, the complexity of it comes down to specific context. For instance, it is possible to use pure loops for solving the tower of hanoi, however, it is so much more efficient and clear to use recursion because tower of hanoi could be split into smaller yet similar structure of problems. Many would ask: when should you use recursion? Personally, I think one should use recursion when the problem presents itself as a composition of similar small problems. The key to choosing between iterative loops and recursion is whichever one is more easier to use for the specific context. There is no need to be fancy and use recursion in every single problem. One thing to note about recursion is that it could lead to a significant amount of overhead which could slow down the program's overall efficiency. The best way to find out whether iterative loops or recursion is more efficient is to have two version of the codes and compare them.