From: usw wickramasinghe <mastershield2007@...>
Date: 2009-03-12T04:43:28+09:00
Subject: Re: return doesn't always exit my method

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On Wed, Mar 11, 2009 at 6:18 AM, Benjamin Thomas
<benjamin.thomas81@free.fr> wrote:
> Hi, I'm new to Ruby and programming in general.
> I'm coding a little script to train on multiplication tables but
> something's wrong:
>
> If I type 'exit', the function should normally exit, via a return
> statement. But this does not always happen and I really can't understand
> why. I've been scratching my head for a few hours on that so I'm posting
> here hoping somebody will be able to spot my obvious mistake!
>
> I'm trying to apply here the concept of recursion so maybe this is where
> I'm messing up.
>
> Thanks for your input,
> Ben

Obviously the flow in your pro gramme is due to the recursive nature of
it.As correctly pointed out by Christopher , return in a recursive algorithm
doesn't necessarily mean your returning from the function entry point you
have started it. It does only mean that you have returned from a specific
instance of the function (or a stack level one may call it..) and ONLY when
u have returned from all the instances of the function in the flow , we can
safely say function has finally returned it's control . So don't be fooled
by a return statement in a recursive funtion as it only provide a way for
you to return the control in the current stack .Also Always remember to
provide a return (or termination logic) in the context of a recursive
function which otherwise will lead to disasterous unending loops in the
flow.

Regards
-Udayanga

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