getrecursiondepth

[Andrew Dalke]

Manlio Perillo wrote:
> This is only the function signature!
> The problem is that I can't do:
> 
> def my_function(a, b, *args, **kwargs, __max_depth = 4): ...
> 
> The only way is to do:
> def my_function(a, b, max_depth = 4, *args, **kwargs): ...
> 
> But in this way max_depth is 'exposed' to public.
> In the first example it is private.

My point, mentioned several times now, is that there's
nothing preventing you from making *two* functions.
The private one doesn't need the *args, **kwargs parameter
definition, and the public one doesn't need the depth
limit.

def _my_function(a, b, args, kwargs, max_depth = 4):
   # do your recursive work here

def my_function(a, b, *args, **kwargs):
   # the public entry to your system
   return _my_function(a, b, args, kwargs)

>>Let's suppose you're
>>doing Ackermann's function


> What's the purpose of such a function?

It's a standard recursive function used for
benchmarks.  It's often used to test how
well a language supports recursion because it
very quickly hits stack limits instead of
numeric limits.

I used it to make my example concrete by
showing how to have a public API which is
different than the API used by the actual
recursive function.  I also used it to show
how that sort of split makes it easier to
add parameter checking, if it's needed.

				Andrew
				dalke at dalkescientific.com