Tail Recursion

xkcd.  that is all.

Recursion

Now I wonder what tail recursion looks like.  (image found by an anonymous EECS 280 student)

NUL-terminated strings: the most expensive one-byte error ever?

ACM Queue on NUL-terminated character arrays.

"This change was made partially to avoid the limitation on the length of a string caused by holding the count in an 8- or 9-bit slot, and partly because maintaining the count seemed, in our experience, less convenient than using a terminator." - Dennis M. Ritchie

Musings on Testing Software

Random musings about software testing for EECS 280 students.

• Testing boundary conditions in Apple Mail
• Leap day errors
• Y2K
• Stages of software engineering for medical devices
• If it compiles, .... (No!!!!!!!)
• Negative security testing for SSL client authentication (news, engineers, swag from RSA)

TARDIS: #1 in the Dematerialization Business

I decided to have some fun with my construction site/home. I wanted to know what the house might look like in the future or whether the emergency re-construction now in its 8 month might ever finish. So I tried to build a time machine. The TARDIS. Unfortunately, I installed a 3rd party chameleon circuit (that's all I could afford) and dropped the dimensional stabilizer down the toilet. (Why have we never seen bathrooms in the TARDIS?  How disgusting. Is the Doctor like one of these people who regularly use the facilities at fast food restaurants?) Enter the TURDIS. Time under relative distress in ....

Tail Recursion Helper Function

Source

See the Hacker's Dictionary on tail recursion.

Recursion

Ah the 1980s.  Big hair.  Puffer vests.  Recursion at MIT.




http://mitpress.mit.edu/sicp/full-text/book/book-Z-H-11.html#%_sec_1.2.1