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To: python-list@python.org
From: Terry Reedy <tjreedy@udel.edu>
Subject: Re: A new module for performing tail-call elimination
Date: Fri, 17 Jul 2015 15:47:19 -0400
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Xref: csiph.com comp.lang.python:94027

On 7/16/2015 3:45 PM, Marko Rauhamaa wrote:
>
> Nobody seemed to notice that I just posted a fairly typical tail call
> function:

Because non-recursive tail calls are completely normal. Example:
     return len(self.children)

Even tail operations like
     return a + b
are tail calls if rewritten as
     return a.__add__(b)
(usually but not always equivalent) or rewritten as
     return operator.add(a, b)
(always equivalent) or compiled by an implementation as an equivalent 
internal function call.

It happens to be that CPython implements calls to symbol operator 
functions by putting the bodies of such functions into a C switch inside 
a while loop.  It this compiles operator symbols into bytecodes that 
cause a jump to the corresponding code.

-- 
Terry Jan Reedy