Can logical operators use tail-recursion
lisp, recursion, scheme, sicp
Solution
The right-hand side of `and` and `or` are tail expressions (see R5RS section 3.5), so you can safely use those for iterative purposes.
Problem
``` (define (fast-prime? n times) (cond ((= times 0) true) ((fermat-test n) (fast-prime? n (- times 1))) (else false))) ``` This code is from SICP, chapter 1.2.6. The procedure uses tail-recursion, so it doesn't cause linear recursion when computed, in other words it's iterative. If I rewrite the procedure using or / and instead of cond, will it cause linear recursion? ``` (define (fast-prime? n times) (or (= times 0) (and (fermat-test n) (fast-prime? n (- times 1))))) ```