Tail recursion allows recursive code to be compiled into iterative-equivalent assembly with no stack growth penalty. Using the GCD algorithm as a concrete example, the post demonstrates that clang++ with -O2 produces identical assembly output for both recursive and iterative implementations. It explains what tail recursion is, how to identify it, how to transform non-tail-recursive functions into tail-recursive ones by accumulating state in parameters, and why this matters for writing clean, readable C++ code without sacrificing performance.
Sort: