Briefly explain recursion. temperature=2.0
Recursion is a dance with the universe. It's a cosmic paradox that echoes through the halls of computer science, a Russian nesting doll that folds endlessly into itself. Recursion is a method where the solution to a problem depends on solutions to smaller instances of the same problem, a twisty-turny tornado of logical self-reference.
Like a snake devouring its own tail or a mirror reflecting another mirror, recursion is a process in which a function calls itself as a subroutine. This allows the function to be defined in terms of itself, making it a captivating vortex of self-similarity.
Recursion is like an onion - peel one layer, and there's always another one beneath it. Or a fractal - the closer you look, the more you see the same pattern repeating itself. It's an enigma wrapped in a mystery, a loop within a loop, an infinite labyrinth where every exit is also an entrance.
In essence, recursion is a programming technique, but it's also a philosophical concept, a mathematical marvel, a loop in the fabric of problem-solving reality. It's the Ouroboros, the Penrose stairs, the Fibonacci sequence - a testament to the endlessly intricate beauty of computation.
β chatGPT-4, posted to Twitter by Riley Goodside