Path: csiph.com!optima2.xanadu-bbs.net!xanadu-bbs.net!feeder.erje.net!1.eu.feeder.erje.net!newsfeed.xs4all.nl!newsfeed7.news.xs4all.nl!newsgate.cistron.nl!newsgate.news.xs4all.nl!post.news.xs4all.nl!not-for-mail Return-Path: X-Original-To: python-list@python.org Delivered-To: python-list@mail.python.org X-Spam-Status: OK 0.023 X-Spam-Evidence: '*H*': 0.95; '*S*': 0.00; 'from:addr:ethan': 0.09; 'from:addr:stoneleaf.us': 0.09; 'from:name:ethan furman': 0.09; 'message-id:@stoneleaf.us': 0.09; 'subject:module': 0.09; 'vast': 0.09; 'folks': 0.15; 'examples?': 0.16; 'iteration.': 0.16; 'wrote:': 0.16; 'all,': 0.20; 'am,': 0.23; 'examples': 0.24; 'written': 0.24; 'header:In-Reply-To:1': 0.24; 'header:User- Agent:1': 0.26; 'equally': 0.29; 'routine': 0.29; '~ethan~': 0.29; 'asked': 0.29; "can't": 0.32; 'point': 0.33; 'useful': 0.33; "d'aprano": 0.33; 'steven': 0.33; 'handle': 0.34; 'best,': 0.35; 'there': 0.36; 'serve': 0.36; 'to:addr:python-list': 0.36; 'subject:: ': 0.37; 'received:10': 0.37; 'mean': 0.38; 'or,': 0.38; 'test': 0.39; 'expressed': 0.39; 'subject:-': 0.39; 'to:addr:python.org': 0.40; 'easy': 0.60; 'real': 0.62; 'charset:windows-1252': 0.62; 'received:10.1.10': 0.84; 'toy': 0.84; 'responses': 0.93 Date: Thu, 16 Jul 2015 10:54:35 -0700 From: Ethan Furman User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux x86_64; rv:31.0) Gecko/20100101 Thunderbird/31.7.0 MIME-Version: 1.0 To: python-list@python.org Subject: Re: A new module for performing tail-call elimination References: <55a3dcd9$0$3024$426a34cc@news.free.fr> <55a76628$0$2846$c3e8da3$76491128@news.astraweb.com> In-Reply-To: <55a76628$0$2846$c3e8da3$76491128@news.astraweb.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=windows-1252; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-BeenThere: python-list@python.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.20+ Precedence: list List-Id: General discussion list for the Python programming language List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Newsgroups: comp.lang.python Message-ID: Lines: 22 NNTP-Posting-Host: 2001:888:2000:d::a6 X-Trace: 1437069280 news.xs4all.nl 2838 [2001:888:2000:d::a6]:35639 X-Complaints-To: abuse@xs4all.nl Xref: csiph.com comp.lang.python:93943 On 07/16/2015 01:07 AM, Steven D'Aprano wrote: > The point is, people keep insisting that there are a vast number of > algorithms which are best expressed using recursion and which require TCO to > be practical, and yet when asked for examples they either can't give any > examples at all, or they give examples that are not well-suited to > recursion. Or, at best, examples which are equally good when written either > using recursion or iteration. You mean toy examples? Toy examples serve useful purposes: - easy to understand - easy to write - esay to test as proof-of-concept (after all, if a routine can't handle a toy example, how is it going to handle real life?) With responses like these I can understand Antoon's position that folks are not arguing in good faith. -- ~Ethan~