CODEWITHSUNDEEP
pythonalgorithmrecursion
Toshith
Toshith

Reputation: 1

How is the Recursion algorithm working in this snippet?

I am finding it difficult to interpret what the below code is trying to do . It is about the recursive algorithm . Especially the: if tail else head statement.

Assuming a list is defined and split into head and tail components 

items=[1,10,7,4,5,9]
head,*tail=items

def sum(items):
  head,tail=items
  return head+sum(tail) if tail else head

Upvotes: 0

Views: 61

Answers (2)

user7552123
user7552123

Reputation:

Answering your doubt on the statement "Especially the: if tail else head statement."

The above-said statement can also be written as 

if(tail != None):
    return head+sum(tail)
else:
    return head

which makes a lot of sense on the first look.

Hope this helps you,

Reply on any query on the above

Upvotes: 2

Amit
Amit

Reputation: 2098

As long as the tail is not None type, the recursion will be there. If the tail is None, the recursion will terminate and head will be output and it will go up the chain.

This is my quick understanding. Other members have also given very good answers.

Upvotes: 0

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