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authorLouis Pilfold <louis@lpil.uk>2024-02-15 12:18:17 +0000
committerLouis Pilfold <louis@lpil.uk>2024-02-19 18:18:04 +0000
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+<p>
+ When a function is called a new stack frame is created in memory to store the
+ arguments and local variables of the function. If lots of these frames are
+ created during recursion then the program would use a large amount of memory,
+ or even crash the program if some limit is hit.
+</p>
+<p>
+ To avoid this problem Gleam supports <em>tail call optimisation</em>, which
+ allows the compiler to reuse the stack frame for the current function if a
+ function call is the last thing the function does, removing the memory cost.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+ Unoptimised recursive functions can often be rewritten into tail call
+ optimised functions by using an accumulator. An accumulator is a variable that
+ is passed along in addition to the data, similar to a mutable variable in a
+ language with <code>while</code> loops.
+</p>
+<p>
+ Accumulators should be hidden away from the users of your code, they are
+ internal implementation details. To do this write a public function that calls
+ a recursive private function with the initial accumulator value.
+</p>