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Software Engineering vocabulary · Programming Concepts

Tail call

Meaning in software engineering, with examples

nounAdvanced term

In software engineering, tail call means: A function call in the final position of another function, so its result becomes the caller's result without further calculation.

In Turkish: kuyruk çağrısı

How it is used

Discuss it in recursion and compiler optimization. No explicit return keyword is required; a tail call need not be recursive or optimized.

Example sentences

  1. The recursive step is a tail call because the helper returns its result directly.

    No addition or other work remains after the recursive result is available.

  2. The dispatcher makes a tail call to the selected handler, but stack reuse is not guaranteed.

    Calling a different function can still be a tail call; optimization is a separate question.

Common collocations

  • tail call optimization
  • recursive tail call
  • recursionA technique where a function solves a problem by calling itself on a smaller part of the same problem until it reaches a simple case.
  • call stackThe structure that keeps track of active function calls, usually with the most recent call on top.

More terms: Programming Concepts

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