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Re: Recursion limit: a good idea to ignore?

• To: mathgroup at smc.vnet.net
• Subject: [mg82359] Re: Recursion limit: a good idea to ignore?
• From: David Bailey <dave at Remove_Thisdbailey.co.uk>
• Date: Thu, 18 Oct 2007 04:57:11 -0400 (EDT)
• References: <feutsm$st$1@smc.vnet.net>

Will Robertson wrote:
> Hello,
> 
> I've written a potentially inefficient algorithm to combine multiple
> joined polygons into a single one. On large plots I get the warning
> "$RecursionLimit::reclim: Recursion depth of 256 exceeded." and a
> bunch of errors because of this.
> 
> Now, should I try and re-write my program (the speed of it is not
> entirely critical) to avoid recursion or is it "okay" to locally
> remove the recursion limit for such code?
> 
> I'll try and post an actual example of my code once I've tidied it up
> a little.
> 
> Many thanks,
> Will
> 
> 
It is perfectly reasonable to require a larger recursion limit for 
certain algorithms. The default value is fairly low so that programs 
that are out of control abort before using too much time and memory.

Since a speedy abort in such cases is definitely valuable, it may be 
worth increasing the recursion limit only for the duration of the 
algorithm that requires it.

David Bailey
http://www.dbaileyconsultancy.co.uk