Post-Incrementing/decrementing in recursive method calls (Java)

Question

Say you have a recursive method, and you post-increment/decrement a value in the recursive call. Why will this result in a stack overflow exception when a pre-increment/decrement will not?

Ex.

numberCount(currentNumber++); //Stack overflow exception

numberCount(++currentNumber); //No stack overflow exception

Thanks in advance for any clarification.

jlordo · Accepted Answer · 2013-04-19 00:17:21Z

12

The first

numberCount(currentNumber++); //Stack overflow exception

is equivalent to:

numberCount(currentNumber);
currentNumber += 1;

while the the second

numberCount(++currentNumber); //No stack overflow exception

is equivalent to

currentNumber += 1;
numberCount(currentNumber);

Need I explain more?

answered Apr 19, 2013 at 0:17

jlordo

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3 Comments

Daniel Kaplan Over a year ago

I'd add that IMO, this is why you should always use the ++ operator on its own line (except in for loops). That way you don't have to think about this problem.

jlordo Over a year ago

@DerrekWhistle: If the answer was helpful, please don't forget to accept it (checkmark next to it), and maybe even upvote it.

Derrek Whistle Over a year ago

I can't upvote until my rep increases, but i'll gladly accept it.

Bud Damyanov · Accepted Answer · 2014-06-13 07:29:49Z

0

In case of numberCount(currentNumber++);, if an Exception is thrown by numberCount function, will the variable currentNumber incremented?

edited Jun 13, 2014 at 7:29

Bud Damyanov

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answered Jun 13, 2014 at 7:00

Alagar

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