What is tail recursion in C?

What is tail recursion in C?

Tail recursion is a special case of recursion where the recursive call is the last operation in the function. This allows for optimizations by the compiler.

Can you give me an example of tail recursion in C?

Sure! Here's a simple example:

int tail_recursive_factorial(int n, int accumulator) {
    if (n == 0) return accumulator;
    return tail_recursive_factorial(n - 1, n * accumulator);
}

int factorial(int n) {
    return tail_recursive_factorial(n, 1);
}

What are the benefits of using tail recursion?

The main benefits are improved performance and reduced risk of stack overflow, as tail-recursive functions can be optimized to use constant stack space.

Are there any limitations to tail recursion?

Yes, not all programming languages optimize tail recursion, and it can be less intuitive than regular recursion for some problems.