[Tutor] Bit Strings [a recursive approach / Herbert Wilf's Algorithms and Complexity]

[Danny Yoo]

> I guess I just didn't realize what I was doing by hand would have worked
> if I had coded it correctly.  And, the nice thing about this is that it
> should be pretty easy to extend the idea if my strings need to have more
> characters.  Just a few more base cases and the else:return needs to be
> have a few more lines. Thanks.

Hi Timothy,

Yes, the recursive approach generalizes easily beyond binary strings.  So
you should be able to get this done well before the weekend.  *grin*


> P.S. I guess it is the mathematician in me that doesn't like recursively
> defined functions.  We tend to like closed form things better.  And it
> was my stumbling block in my algorithm classes.  Although, recursive is
> often much more elegant...

By the way, I just discovered that the mathematician Herbert Wilf has made
his book "Algorithms and Complexity", freely available from his web site!

    http://www.cis.upenn.edu/%7Ewilf/AlgComp2.html

It's a nice 2**6 pages of quirky mathy goodness.  Chapter 2 gives a talk
about recursive algorithms, so this is not totally off topic.  *grin* I
wish I had seen it earlier, as well as his other book
"generatingfunctionology", which is also available off his web site.