[Tutorial] recursion

[Andy]

ok, this doesnt necessarily have to go under turing, but since everybody who does c++ here already noe it, i'll just write this for the noobs of the site.

what is recursion? recursion is a function or procedure that reruns itself while it is running. this may sound confusing, but you'll understand how it works and why ppl use it

recursion is especially usefull for AI programming, although it may be unefficent, you can simply use the alpha-beta method to enhance it. the alpha-beta method simply stops a tree when it realizes that the tree cannot be te result one

the best example for recursion would be an factorial program, every body knows what factorials are rite? 0!=1 1!=1 2!=2 3!=6 4!=24 5!=120 6!=720 7!=5040 8!=40320. n!=n*(n-1)*(n-2)*(n-3)*...*1 where n is an nonegative integer. i noe i noe, you're probably thinking of using a for loop to solve this problem, but why ruin the fun?

a recursive process can be an procedure or a function. if you want to return only one result, use function, if multiple use procedure. for factorial, we only want the answer so a function will be used

code:

function multiply_by_a_factorial(int num, product):int     if num=0 then         result product     end if     result multiply_by_a_factorial(num-1, product*num) end if end multiply_by_a_factorial

when accessing the function simply type

code:

multiply_by_a_factorial(6,1)

that would give an answer of 720

as you can see, within our factorial function, it calls it self again, but gives the new value to be multiplied one less than the original. and that the first thing it checks is whether if it should stop the recursive process.

you could practice your recursion skills by making your own drawfill procedure. hint, check all 8 sides around the current dot and if one of the dot is not the color you want, run the precedure again from that location.

use this for the checking

code:

for i:-1..1     for j:-1..1         if whatdotcolor(currentx+i,currenty+j) not= desiredcolor             return mydrawfill(currentx+i,currenty+j,desiredcolor)         end if     end for end for

make sure to set the boundry of the screen so you dont keep on filling nothing!

well thats the best way i could explain recursion, feel free to add what ever you can here.

for a more advanced example of recursion, look at my FP for last yr, othello. both the normal and advanced AI uses recursion to predict what the best move is. (the ultimate AI makes random moves, it was meant to be a joke)

here is the link http://www.compsci.ca/v2/viewtopic.php?t=1315&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0

ps. mods, i need bits! bad!

[Tony]

wow dodge... didn't know you had that in you... +Bits

Just to add - you can search through mazes with recursion, since you can easily get it to act like a Draw.Fill. Just "fill" the pathways untill you ether find the exit or return back to the start.

If anyone interested in maze solving - ask Martin (aka Darkness)

[Andy]

yea, but why use recursion for that when you can use whatdotcolor? well thats next

[SilverSprite]

tony wrote:

If anyone interested in maze solving - ask Martin (aka Darkness)

why darkness? you should be asking bugz..

[Tony]

well yeah... true... martin and jack worked on that maze program together, but since I chat with martin soo much more, go figure.

[SilverSprite]

jack did the maze part

[Tony]

well sorry SilverSprite, I dont go to Massey here, let me correct myself.

If anyone interested in maze solving - ask Jack (aka Bugz)

[Andy]

HEY! no spamming in my tutorial! somebody move the junk... just keep tony's first and last post

[SilverSprite]

dodge is a loser
lets guess what dodge says next.. ."die SS!"

[Andy]

die ss






on wed in sc

[AsianSensation]

Weds SC? I thought it was Thur SC?

[Andy]

yea but ss doesnt show up on thurs, and on wed we're all gonna play nywayz

[Andy]

ok now that i'm done my whatdotcolor tutorial, ppl dont read this, read the other one... recursion is useless with whatdotcolor