Python Language Recursion Tail Recursion Optimization Through Stack Introspection

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Example

By default Python's recursion stack cannot exceed 1000 frames. This can be changed by setting the sys.setrecursionlimit(15000) which is faster however, this method consumes more memory. Instead, we can also solve the Tail Recursion problem using stack introspection.

#!/usr/bin/env python2.4
# This program shows off a python decorator which implements tail call optimization. It
# does this by throwing an exception if it is it's own grandparent, and catching such 
# exceptions to recall the stack.

import sys

class TailRecurseException:
    def __init__(self, args, kwargs):
        self.args = args
        self.kwargs = kwargs

def tail_call_optimized(g):
"""
This function decorates a function with tail call
optimization. It does this by throwing an exception
if it is it's own grandparent, and catching such
exceptions to fake the tail call optimization.
  
This function fails if the decorated
function recurses in a non-tail context.
"""
      
    def func(*args, **kwargs):
        f = sys._getframe()
        if f.f_back and f.f_back.f_back and f.f_back.f_back.f_code == f.f_code:
            raise TailRecurseException(args, kwargs)
        else:
            while 1:
                try:
                    return g(*args, **kwargs)
                except TailRecurseException, e:
                    args = e.args
                    kwargs = e.kwargs
    func.__doc__ = g.__doc__
    return func

To optimize the recursive functions, we can use the @tail_call_optimized decorator to call our function. Here's a few of the common recursion examples using the decorator described above:

Factorial Example:

@tail_call_optimized
def factorial(n, acc=1):
  "calculate a factorial"
  if n == 0:
    return acc
  return factorial(n-1, n*acc)

print factorial(10000)
# prints a big, big number,
# but doesn't hit the recursion limit.

Fibonacci Example:

@tail_call_optimized
def fib(i, current = 0, next = 1):
  if i == 0:
    return current
  else:
    return fib(i - 1, next, current + next)

print fib(10000)
# also prints a big number,
# but doesn't hit the recursion limit.


Got any Python Language Question?