Defined Recursion (#27605)

* Defined Recursion

Added an English definition for recursion with examples and external sources.

* md-ize and format
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Noah Burwell
2019-03-21 06:42:52 -07:00
committed by The Coding Aviator
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@ -9,7 +9,59 @@ This is a stub. <a href='https://github.com/freecodecamp/guides/tree/master/src/
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### A Quick Intro
Put simply, recursion if a form of defining something using itself within the definition
This is a common example used to teach recursion, a function to generate the fibonacci numbers:
```
f(0) := 0 Base case 0
f(1) := 1 Base case 1
f(x) := f(x - 1) + f(x - 2) | x > 1
```
Now, defining a function with itself will leave you with a few problems. The biggest is that if you define a function with itself, how are you supposed to know/determine when the function stops?
Here's a simple example:
```js
function foo(x){
y = x + 1;
console.log(y);
foo(y);
}
```
This function takes some number, and adds 1 to it infinitely.
In order to determine a stopping point, you need to add a base case.
A base case is a point at which the function does not call the recursive step.
```js
function foo(x){
if(x > 5){
return x
}
y = x + 1;
console.log(y);
foo(y);
}
```
This is now equivalent to:
```js
function foo(x){
while(y < 5){
y = x + 1;
console.log(y);
}
}
```
Almost everything that can be defined recursively can also be created with a loop. In fact, most compilers turn your code into a loop anyway, at some point, prior to it being executed.
It should also be noted that recursion may look cool and allow you to shrink a long loop down into just a few lines of code but there are a few drawbacks. Mainly, performance of a recursive definition is generally slower than that of an iterative one, not to mention, it can be harder to read for people unfamiliar or new to the concept.
#### More Information: #### More Information:
<!-- Please add any articles you think might be helpful to read before writing the article --> <!-- Please add any articles you think might be helpful to read before writing the article -->
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recursion
- https://introcs.cs.princeton.edu/java/23recursion/