tail recursion

[mkatz@garlic.stanford.edu (Morris Katz)]

   Date: 20 Apr 90  1316 PDT
   From: Dick Gabriel <RPG@sail.stanford.edu>

   [In reply to message from dyb@iuvax.cs.indiana.edu sent Fri, 20 Apr 90 14:34:47 -0500.]

   I'm not sure it's a well-defined term.

Based on previous discussion with Luddy, I know that this is exactly the point
he is trying to make.  His real question is how can one define tail recursion
without appealing to a specific type of computer architecture.  What would it
mean for Scheme to be or not to be tail recursive on some novel architecture
which doesn't even have stacks, etc.  Is there some way that the characteristic
which is desired can be specified through semantics rather than implementation?
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Morry Katz
katz@cs.stanford.edu
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