Re: [stack] disallowing recursive definitions

Joe Bowbeer scripsit:

> As a former Schemer and fan of continuations, I'm conditioned to view (tail)
> recursion as the simpler, more powerful concept.  Not looping.

Sure it's simpler and more powerful.  That's because it's a general goto
(with transfer of values).  And as Dijkstra said, "the go to statement
as it stands is just too primitive; it is too much an invitation to make
a mess of one's program."

If you haven't actually read Dijkstra's squib, it's very much worth reading at
http://www.u.arizona.edu/~rubinson/copyright_violations/Go_To_Considered_Harmful.html
and numerous other places around the Net.

-- 
John Cowan   http://ccil.org/~cowan    [email protected]
We want more school houses and less jails; more books and less arsenals;
more learning and less vice; more constant work and less crime; more
leisure and less greed; more justice and less revenge; in fact, more of
the opportunities to cultivate our better natures.  --Samuel Gompers