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(via Reddit)
This was posted by ooglag on Reddit who says it’s from John Zelle’s Python Programming, although it’s pretty common in other text books as well. It also reminds me of google:
http://www.google.ca/search?q=recursion
I enjoy it when textbooks include some humor. It’s a nice way to keep things from becoming monotonous. Great upload! =]
The only other example of index humour I know is in the CRC Data Book, which has this entry for ‘sea water’:
Sea water; see ‘Water, sea’
K&R is “a textbook”? only inasmuch as the Mona Lisa is “a painting”
I don’t really consider this a fail, but more like ingenuity on a writer’s part.
Google “recursion”.
isn’t recursive fancy writing! 🙂
“from John Zelle’s Python Programming”
should be:
” from monty phyton programming..”
Aside from the humor those examples make the definitions much clearer to understand.
That third definition should say “Recursive: A function or definition that refers to itself. See Recursive until you get it.” (There has to be a base case!)
that is so NOT a fale…
Clearly a math win!
stack overflow: see infinite loop and recursive simultaneously
Isn’t a loop always infinite?
a loop indeed
Original source for these is the Hacker’s Dictionary and the original Jargon Files.
http://www.amazon.com/New-Hackers-Dictionary-3rd/dp/0262680920/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1290160459&sr=8-1
http://www.dourish.com/goodies/jargon.html (1988 jargon file, has Recursion entry)