What is the difference between tail and head recursion?

Can you explain the difference between tail recursion and head recursion?

Sure! Tail recursion occurs when the recursive call is the last operation in the function, while head recursion has the recursive call at the beginning.

Why is tail recursion considered more efficient?

Tail recursion can be optimized by the compiler to avoid adding new stack frames, which reduces memory usage and prevents stack overflow.

Can you give me an example of each?

Of course! For tail recursion, consider a function that calculates the factorial of a number where the recursive call is the last action. For head recursion, the recursive call happens before any operations are performed.

Are there any languages that don't support tail call optimization?

Yes, some languages like Python do not support tail call optimization, which can lead to stack overflow in deep recursive calls.