Recursion is the best tool for working with trees and graphs. But perhaps you’ve studied recursion and decided it’s too complicated. You just can’t think that way. That limits the kind of programming you can do.
Good news! Recursion is actually easy. It’s just badly taught.
See, many instructors talk about how the computer does it. They go on and on about what happens at each level of the recursion and how each level relates to other levels. The problem is that you can’t think in multiple levels. Nobody can. And you don’t have to.
This book will show you how you can write recursive programs. Once you understand a few simple rules, you will wonder why you ever thought recursion was complicated. You’ll be able to write recursive programs quickly and easily.
Well, as quick and easy as programming ever is, anyway.
1. Understanding Recursion
2. Data Structures
3. Backtracking
Biography
David L. Matuszek was Director of the Masters in Computer and Information Technology course at the University of Pennsylvania, USA (2001-2017). With 40 years teaching experience, and 45 years programming experience, David is skilled in both the design of innovative software systems and in teaching others how to master programming languages in an accessible and engaging way.
“When a gifted teacher presents a new concept, they first cover every needed building block. The new concept becomes such a necessary and obvious extension of those building blocks, it feels like something you already knew. That is how Dave Matuszek’s books read. In sparse, concise language he tells you exactly what you most need to know about programming, and lays it all out so clearly and logically it seems inevitable. His cheerful, intuitive examples progress step by step from introductory to advanced stages carrying you along painlessly.
I cannot recommend this series highly enough to anyone wanting a quick primer on a language they have yet to use. Whether a computer science student or a self-taught programmer, there are treats in store.”
- Martha Palmer, Arts and Sciences Professor of Distinction for Linguistics, and the former Helen & Hubert Croft Professor of Engineering in the Computer Science Department, University of Colorado Boulder, USA.
