What on Earth is Recursion? - Computerphile

Recursion; like something from the film "Inception". Even Professor Brailsford says it can be hard to get your head around - watch him make it much easier to understand...

This video was filmed and edited by Sean Riley.

[Misterzr]

4:52 The sound a compiler makes when executing a recursion call.

[funastacia]

This is the clearest explanation I came across! Thanks so much! 👏

[docopoper]

I'm sad you didn't put a link to this video in the description.

[newbie]

Honestly speaking, this is the best recursion explanation I've ever heard.

[alvaroplol]

I already understood the basics of recursive functions in programming, but this explanation was really well done. This man makes programming beautiful!

[Ronenlahat]

Google "recursion"... did you mean "recursion"?

[khiryshank]

This is like the best recursion explanation of all time.

[uexp]

I took computer science in high school and got a great teacher who really cared a lot about what she was teaching and understood what was important. She taught us recursion when most schools skipped this lesson (because it was not mandate to be taught by the ministry). When my prof in uni began the lecture about recursion I could hear the confusion in the room. Luckily, I had decent grasp of the concept before hand.

[averagegiuseppe]

This fellow deserves to be called an "educator".

[colza]

Very good explanation. I feel these two parts are especially essential.
04:48 I can't get the answer, so I need to jump back to the equation.
05:47 Demonstrate with a stack diagram.

[X_Baron]

I personally wouldn't trust the Comic Sans n to return the correct value.

[greeneightball]

I can always count on Computerphile as a perfect precursor to learning about a topic with their general, yet savvy and well formed explanations. Thank you <3

[tobortine]

I learned about recursion more than 25 years ago but it's still captivating listening to the Prof explaining how it works. One of the benefits of learning assembler languages is that you get to understand recursion and stacks pretty quickly because nothing is done for you.

[unreciever_]

So many recursion explanations out there without a visual and straightforward demonstration of the stack calls, but this one is an amazing exception. Thank you Computerphile and Prof. Brailsford, this is a lifesaver!

[anandshweta]

This is such a simple and to-the-point explanation.

[SnedzTheBricklayer]

This is hands the most straight forward explanation of recursion in the universe 😐

[yaweno]

It's always exciting to discover a professor that can actually teach. Great intro to recursion.

[s-code-b]

That's the calmest explanation I've ever seen. He's explaining 'factorial', but it sounds like: The world is not coming to an end; all will be well; verdant ever after.

[Sone]

Why can't you be my teacher.... for EVERYTHING

[IFFY]

I really wish these videos were out when I was learning programming at uni. This is such a concise explanation. Thankyou!