[Python-Dev] Proper tail recursion (original) (raw)

Guido van Rossum guido at python.org
Thu Jul 15 03:36:16 CEST 2004

JanC recommended I post this on python-dev to get feedback. To sum up the previous posts in my thread on comp.lang.python, I've created a patch that optimizes tail calls in the CPython interpreter, so that the stack is not used for functions called in a tail context.

I'm not interested in adding this to the official Python release.

One reason is that if an exception happens in such a tail-recursive call, the stack trace will be confusing.

Another reason is that I don't think it's a good idea to try to encourage a Scheme-ish "solve everything with recursion" programming style in Python.

But feel free to maintain this as an independent modification, a la Stackless -- I'm sure there are people who would like to try this out.

--Guido van Rossum (home page: http://www.python.org/~guido/)

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