From: Nate Eldredge Newsgroups: comp.os.msdos.djgpp Subject: Re: Use of recursion Date: 11 Dec 1999 23:00:11 -0800 Organization: InterWorld Communications Lines: 31 Message-ID: <83hfho1w5g.fsf@mercury.st.hmc.edu> References: <82vfqn$6ce$1 AT mango DOT singnet DOT com DOT sg> NNTP-Posting-Host: mercury.st.hmc.edu X-Trace: nntp1.interworld.net 944982088 1643 134.173.45.219 (12 Dec 1999 07:01:28 GMT) X-Complaints-To: usenet AT nntp1 DOT interworld DOT net NNTP-Posting-Date: 12 Dec 1999 07:01:28 GMT X-Newsreader: Gnus v5.7/Emacs 20.4 To: djgpp AT delorie DOT com DJ-Gateway: from newsgroup comp.os.msdos.djgpp Reply-To: djgpp AT delorie DOT com "Yong-Kwang Goh" writes: > I've a function that draws borders around bitmaps to make them > appear outset (popup) or inset (sunken). In anyway, it means giving > the bitmaps a 3D look if you don't get what I mean. > > Somehow, it can be programmed to achieve the effect in 2 ways: > using recursion or normal looping. > > Now, I've a dillema -- should I use recursion or looping after all. > AFAIK, recursion is a very useful and good programming technique, > but one which gobbles up computing resources and *must* be > used carefully. Looping is more efficient but usually more complicated > than using recursion. > > I wonder if recursion *is faster* than looping. Generally not. If you think about it, all the same code has to be executed. (Unless this is different for your specific algorithm.) > When should I use recursion since it can be replaced with looping > most of the time? You've already discovered it -- it's often much simpler to write. And when you don't care about performance, the saving in coding time is nice. -- Nate Eldredge neldredge AT hmc DOT edu