Difference between revisions of "Recursiveness"
Jump to navigation
Jump to search
| Line 4: | Line 4: | ||
#the combination of two WFF's with a binary operator | #the combination of two WFF's with a binary operator | ||
| − | The LISP programming language uses a recursive data structure. Most programming languages permit recursion by allowing the programmer call a function within itself. Some have no syntax for making looping code other than by recursion. | + | The LISP programming language uses a recursive data structure. Most programming languages permit recursion by allowing the programmer call a function within itself. Some have no syntax for making looping code other than by recursion. (''for its use in computer science see main article on [[recursion]]'') |
A fascination with recursive definitions in the software development community ([[free software]] in particular) led to the invention of several recursive acronyms: | A fascination with recursive definitions in the software development community ([[free software]] in particular) led to the invention of several recursive acronyms: | ||
| Line 16: | Line 16: | ||
*[[Fractal]] | *[[Fractal]] | ||
| − | *[[ | + | *[[Recursion]] (computer science) |
[[category:logic]] | [[category:logic]] | ||
==External links== | ==External links== | ||
[http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/electrical-engineering-and-computer-science/6-00sc-introduction-to-computer-science-and-programming-spring-2011/unit-1/lecture-6-recursion/ Unit on recursion in free online computer science course from MIT.] | [http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/electrical-engineering-and-computer-science/6-00sc-introduction-to-computer-science-and-programming-spring-2011/unit-1/lecture-6-recursion/ Unit on recursion in free online computer science course from MIT.] | ||
Revision as of 14:20, February 26, 2013
Recursiveness is the quality of being defined in terms which include the whole. For example, in symbolic logic a well-formed formula (WFF) can be either:
- a predicate
- the negation of a WFF
- the combination of two WFF's with a binary operator
The LISP programming language uses a recursive data structure. Most programming languages permit recursion by allowing the programmer call a function within itself. Some have no syntax for making looping code other than by recursion. (for its use in computer science see main article on recursion)
A fascination with recursive definitions in the software development community (free software in particular) led to the invention of several recursive acronyms:
- PHP (originally Personal Home Page) => PHP Hypertext Pre-processor
- GNU (GNU's Not Unix)
- WINE (Wine Is Not an Emulator)
- YAML (YAML Ain't Markup Language)
See also
External links
Unit on recursion in free online computer science course from MIT.