What's a nice explanation for recursion?

Posted by Gulshan on Programmers See other posts from Programmers or by Gulshan
Published on 2010-12-10T04:07:17Z Indexed on 2011/01/12 9:58 UTC
Read the original article Hit count: 588

Filed under:

computer-science

|

teaching

|

intro-to-programming

|

recursion

This question is inspired by What's a nice explanation for pointers?
So, what can be a nice explanation of the recursion?

Update:
The idea of recursion is not very common in real world. So, it seems a bit confusing to the novice programmers. Though, I guess, they become used to the concept gradually. So, what can be a nice explanation for them to grasp the idea easily?

I expected some detailed answers.

N.B. : Even I am going to post one answer. But to be fair, it will be few hours later.

© Programmers or respective owner

Related posts about computer-science

How do I completely self study computer science?

as seen on Programmers - Search for 'Programmers'
Being a completely self taught programmer I would like it if I could better myself by self-learning computer science course taught to a typical CS grad. Finding different resources on internet has been easy, there is of course MIT open course ware, and there are Coursera courses from Stanford and… >>> More
what, why, when, should I learn computer science?

as seen on Programmers - Search for 'Programmers'
I'm 16 years old and really an enthusiast on web programming. I know (X)HTML, css, javascript and php. And i heard about computer science. Below are my question: What is computer science? Should a web programmer learn computer science? If the answer of question 2 is yes, then what programming language(s)… >>> More
what, why, when, should I learn computer science?

as seen on Programmers - Search for 'Programmers'
I'm 16 years old and really an enthusiast on web programming. I know (X)HTML, css, javascript and php. And i heard about computer science. Below are my question: What is computer science is? Should a web programmer learn computer science? If the answer of question 2 is yes, then what programming… >>> More
What topic in computer science is this?

as seen on Stack Overflow - Search for 'Stack Overflow'
Hi, I am trying to figure out what 'topic' this is called, so I can learn more about it. Basically, I'm talking about designing my applications's architecture. I'm not talking about algorithms. More like -- this class should have these methods and these instance variables, and communicate with… >>> More
Computer Science Resume [closed]

as seen on Stack Overflow - Search for 'Stack Overflow'
I am looking for a good computer science resume. I just graduated, and I would like to see some samples from real programmers. The ones online don't seem that great. Sorry if this is posted in the wrong section. >>> More

Related posts about teaching

Decisions in teaching someone else to program: language selection

as seen on Stack Overflow - Search for 'Stack Overflow'
My friend would like for me to guide her into learning programming. She's already proven enormous aptitude for thinking like a programmer but is scared of the idea of programming since in her mind it's relegated to some magical realm accessible only to smart people and trained computer scientists… >>> More
Language+IDE for teaching high school students?

as seen on Stack Overflow - Search for 'Stack Overflow'
I'm investigating languages and IDEs for a project involving teaching high-school students (around grade 11). It will teach basics of programming as an introduction to computer science (e.g., including how numbers/strings/characters are represented, using procedures and arrays, control flow, a little… >>> More
teaching my self Z/OS assembler?

as seen on Stack Overflow - Search for 'Stack Overflow'
'I've interned at a company that does a lot of mainframe work. Most of my mainframe experience has been using Java and Unix System Services. I've had some experience with the ISPF interface and C but none with assembler. I’m graduating shortly and will be taking an independent study my last semester… >>> More
Testing harness for online teaching?

as seen on Stack Overflow - Search for 'Stack Overflow'
I have been asked to teach an online programming course, and I am looking for a test harness especially geared to education. Some students will have significant coding experience, but others will be total newbies. The course is an introduction to software development, mostly taught in C with some… >>> More
Running an intern program

as seen on ASP.net Weblogs - Search for 'ASP.net Weblogs'
This year I am running an unpaid internship program for high school students. I work for a small company. We have ideas for a few side projects but never have time to do them. So we experiment by making them intern projects. In return, we give these interns guidance to learn, personal attentions,… >>> More