explain recursion to a non technical person

Recursion is a way of doing an operation over a set of values, where each value is related to the previous one, without iterating or using loops. Find out if you're ready for PM interviews, 2,500+ product manager interview questions. As you put together your presentation, always keep your objective or purpose in mind. By reading the room, you can adjust your content accordingly. When it comes to hiring or promoting a software engineer, communication skills can be used as the tie-breaker between two equally talented people. That silence is a vacuum that begs to be filledand that is the time when the listener either confirms that they are up to speed and you can move on or that they are still floundering. This button displays the currently selected search type. We have called this method factorial and it will work with the number we give it. Sign upto receive our technical articles in your email inbox. Crucially, recursive functions can propagate information through multiple calls by passing variables around. Unflagging sloan will restore default visibility to their posts. Why must a product of symmetric random variables be symmetric? Browse other questions tagged, Start here for a quick overview of the site, Detailed answers to any questions you might have, Discuss the workings and policies of this site. We finally get to the return statement and pop out of the function. Any attempt to draw attention to their non-technical nature might be wrong (they might be very technically capable in other fields - just not websites) and, in any case . Something like this: Tech is no longer a siloed department, tucked away in their own corner of the building and hidden from the rest of the company. Cookie Notice The 4 phases of the project management life cycle, The go-to toolkit for effortless documentation, improve one's ability to synthesize information by 36%. More simply, recursion has also been described as the ability to place one component inside another component of the same kind. We can write factorial(n) as n*factorial(n-1), which is the required recursive relation. The prototypical question here is "Can you explain recursion to a five year old", i.e. Then use various "basic shapes". Do it properly, and the chances of success are so much higher. The most popular online Visio alternative, Lucidchart is utilized in over 180 countries by millions of users, from sales managers mapping out target organizations to IT directors visualizing their network infrastructure. now let him think about it for a day, and after a day, show something more meaningful, and useful, like use of calculating power, and say that this is finite series that stops at element number 1 , and we calculate it backwards: This is when the function keeps calling itself and never stops calling itself! While the pile isnt empty, grab a box and look through it. Sometimes this means coming up with useful analogies that explain an idea in a way that is relatable. If possible, avoid using jargon altogether and translate your terminology into laymans terms. If you read this far, tweet to the author to show them you care. Instead of alienating your listeners the next time you have to talk technical, use these methods to shape your discussion so its easy for anyone to understand. Along with asking questions of your listener to gage the right entrance point for the conversation, another tool you can leverage is your power of observation. This is very important to making recursion work. Each time you reduce the problem, it looks the same, it's just smaller. If you do accidentally run code with an infinite loop you can press Ctrl-C to kill your script. Like professionals in any industry, software engineers become so familiar with the language of their work that they forget what is and isnt jargon. Eight Tips For Approaching Your Boss With A Difficult Conversation, Report Explores The State Of Blacks In Venture Capital. It is almost always obvious when the lightbulb goes off in your listener. There are probably even better examples to be found on the web. As such, tail recursive functions can often be easily implemented in an iterative manner; by taking out the recursive call and replacing it with a loop, the same effect can . Let me try to explain with an example. When that happens, we log the number zero and then i is less than or equal to zero. Immediate members of the team such as Project Managers, Business Analysts and Technical Writers may be highly skilled in their specific jobsbut also not technical. 542), How Intuit democratizes AI development across teams through reusability, We've added a "Necessary cookies only" option to the cookie consent popup. Access to the series is completely free, if you have found it useful k4 = k3 +1 Data Concierge | Delivering a World-Class Stakeholder Experience in Data Analytics | Engaged 100+ stakeholders in healthcare, etc. For formulas, give him something concrete that he can relate to, rather than just numbers. Framing a Binary Search Problem for your Non-Technical Friends. And when the time comes, they'll understand and know how to apply it. It's all about representing something in the end. If you learn best through videos, consider buying my course. The developer should be very careful with recursion as it can be quite easy . Your non-technical audience is going to be much more receptive to your information if they understand how it will help them do their jobs better or easier. Also, since a lot of algorithms use recursion, its important to understand how it works. sacrificing some of the nuances of it. A physical world example would be to place two parallel mirrors facing each other. You can use it to display mathematical concepts. They are able to think "recursive" then. Interested in Computer Vision. Later you may suggest including some little discrepancies, like using 59 degrees instead of 60 Generally, Logo is awesome language to teach recursion. Site design / logo 2023 Stack Exchange Inc; user contributions licensed under CC BY-SA. This can improve efficiency, as well as make people feel more integrated into the overall business direction. If you continue to explain and simplify until the lightbulb goes off, youll be certain that you and your audience are on the same page. What is the difference between computer software and a computer program? If recursion still doesnt seem simple to you, dont worry: Im going to go over a few more examples. Non-technical roles are job positions that do not require you to have coding or other core IT skills. Think of each slide in the context of how it will guide your audience along the journey from point A to point B.. In tail recursion, the recursive call is the last thing the function does. Why not ask? . We're a place where coders share, stay up-to-date and grow their careers. You can also watch this 5-minute video I made about recursion. A German term for "comprehend" is "begreifen", which literally means "to touch something in order to understand it". When you have a lot of data or information to share, resist feeding it to your audience with a firehose. Just sticking something a child is interested in into a complex explanation doesn't make it a good explanation for a child. Thank you for sharing. The function involved is called a recursive function. What are the considerations to determine whether you can use recursion to solve a problem? Even if youve explained the technology to people hundreds of times and know the subject matter inside and out, the person youre currently talking to might be hearing about it for the first time. We could have each person give the card back when they say the result (deck.push(mycard)), but in code it's cleaner to just pass a slice of the rest of the deck: To begin, if you want to understand recursion, you must understand what is recursion. The recursive function's structure can often be modeled after the definition of the recursive data structure it takes as an input. The senior management team that approves funding or budgeting likewise may not be technical. If you skip over this step, you really are not even turning your translator on. Connect and share knowledge within a single location that is structured and easy to search. code of conduct because it is harassing, offensive or spammy. Say we need to write a program that lets us work out the factorial of a number. Sometimes this means simplifying the concept, i.e. The third-to-last person takes the number that the second-to-last person tells them and adds it to the number on the card they kept, and so on back up the line. You get the number that the second person tells you and add it to the one card you kept. And finally, to truly understand recursion, you must read this article again. How do I explain "Recursion" to an 8-year-old kid? Any function which calls itself is called recursive function, and such function calls are called recursive calls. Recursion, though, is a fairly elusive concept, often used in slightly different ways.1 Before I delve into some of the complexi-ties, let's consider some further examples to give the general idea. Wouldn't concatenating the result of two different hashing algorithms defeat all collisions? Acknowledge the things theyre good at and let them know you have respect for what they do. What the recipient of these blueprints cares about is the context (that the remodel design will allow more people to fit in the same office space) and the impact (the company saves money by not having to lease a second building). Fibonacci is a good follow up for something abstract without visuals to match. Privacy Policy. There is actually no performance benefit to using recursion. With Lucidchart Cloud Insights, you can generate a cloud architecture diagram and easily narrow down your diagram to the part thats relevant. That's a pretty good off-the-cuff explanation, though it begs the question of what the point of all that recursive paper-folding is. The infinite mirrors example works as well as a tangible example. If you're looking for a job in the tech industry, visit ourjob boardto see if you qualify for some of our positions. Continue until you have a 7 year old explaining recursion to a 6 year old. I know it's a shitty explanation but it's all I could really come up with off the top of my head. Children will remember it better, because it's related to their meal (and thus important to their conciousness) and they can comprehend it. Examples of such problems are Towers of Hanoi (TOH), Inorder/Preorder/Postorder Tree Traversals, DFS of Graph, etc. (2) You must develop a mental technical-to-non-technical translation device. Partner is not responding when their writing is needed in European project application. Are they in a creative field? The communication skills necessary to present knowledge-specific information to non-techies is growing in necessity. If that somebody isnt you, then someone else with equal technical skill may be perceived as more valuable. Again, i is not less that or equal to zero so we go to the else statement and call countdown with 3. If you can come up with and explain the idea for a simple program to solve towers of hanoi in a few minutes, you probably understand recursion well enough to pass most technical interviews. For example, if youre explaining the game-changing potential of a new technology, share how Steve Jobs championed the iPod and how its success defied shareholders expectations. Are functional languages better at recursion? Even if it feels like youre only making incremental progress, to those who were previously unfamiliar with the technology you share, your efforts may feel like a true revelation. if he doesn't get fibonacci, then get him to understand the math before explaining the code. Awareness of your own industrys jargon is a great place to begin improving this area of your communication. When daddy drives the car, it's "normal call". Recursive functions use something called the call stack. When a program calls a function, that function goes on top of the call stack. Recursion in Merge Sort algorithm. So this way of getting information by repeatedly doing the same thing until a condition is met is called Recursion. Copyright 1995-2023 - STOUT SYSTEMS DEVELOPMENT INC. - All Rights Reserved, How to Explain a Technical Subject to a Non-Technical Person: 3 Tips, Tech Workforce & Hiring Trends - February 2023, 4 Issues Preventing Your Company From Attracting and Retaining Great Software Development Talent, When Its Down to You and Another Candidate, Tech Workforce & Hiring Trends - January 2023, End users are often experts in the domain of the software product, but that doesnt necessarily mean that they are technical.. Likewise, use real life tangible objects to compare with your technical topics. Notice how concise and readable the recursive code is when compared to the non-recursive version: Recursive vs Non-Recursive Nested List Traversal. There are two main approaches to create an algorithm for this problem: iterative and recursive. Improve this answer. But Logo allows you to trivially make neat fractals. Our code for our program would be really big if for each number we wanted to get the factorial of we wrote out; Instead we can try and break down what a factorial does and write code to follow these rules. This subtle difference is hard to illustrate without getting into code, but the key takeaway is that recursion is a solution that repeatedly calls upon itself. I hope you found this useful, if you want to get in contact with us about this or anything else the best way to do that is via email. If a listener cant take away something helpful from a piece of information, then its a sign to zoom out and focus on the bigger picture. Focus on the initiatives and pain points that your audience cares most about, and your interactions will have a much greater impact with executives and other non-technical employees at your organization. Write down the steps to cut the fish so it fits in the pan. IMHO an average 8 year old kid's mind is not yet developed enough to comprehend recursion in its entirety - that requires a level of abstract thinking (s)he is not capable of yet. This demonstrates what recursion is, but doesn't explain why or how you would use it. Drawbacks of nonrepudiation with digital signatures. Excellent for beginners or if you just need Where the term self-reliant suggests a person or persons who have acquired a certain level of expertise without necessarily being professionals. Other suggested fractals, that's a good idea. 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This question is an If a negative integer is provided, return -1. For further actions, you may consider blocking this person and/or reporting abuse. Your classmate says fine, but then realizes there must be like 49 cards in this deck, which sounds like a lot, I mean come on? It should reinforce these recursion concepts. You can either spend half a meeting going over the heads of the audience as you try to describe the functional differences between your companys iOS app and web app versions, or you can put some pictures up on the screen to easily illustrate your point. Like professionals in any industry, software engineers become so familiar with the language of their work that they forget what is and isnt jargon. Oh, and avoid mentioning infinity. Get started, freeCodeCamp is a donor-supported tax-exempt 501(c)(3) charity organization (United States Federal Tax Identification Number: 82-0779546). Prefer: and again, and again, and again Pan it out so he's getting the impression he's playing a game. Are you sure you want to hide this comment? Whenever you share your technical know-how with a non-technical audience, the goal is to be conversational. Recursion is a process in which a function calls itself, either directly or indirectly. 1,2,3,4,5,.. and tell him: Koch's Snowflake is _/\_ defined by "forward, left 60, forward, right 120, forward, left 60, forward. Written content and verbal explanations are both essential ways to communicate ideas. Examples: Recursive definition of an arithmetic sequence: - an= a+nd - an =an-1+d , a0= a Recursive definition of a geometric sequence: xn= arn xn = rxn-1, x0 =a Weve all heard the golden rule: to treat others the way you want to be treated. So you need an algorithm to find the key! The method has called itself. Story Identification: Nanomachines Building Cities. There we call the countdown function again with the number four (51=4 ?). We provide expert level software, Web and embedded systems development consulting and staffing services along with direct-hire technical recruiting and placements. It's too abstract and boring for them. Recursion means "solving a problem using the solution of smaller subproblems (smaller version of the same problem)" or "defining a problem in terms of itself". The condition that terminates the further call of the function by defining the termination state is called the base condition. Your three-year-old son pops in from around the corner and lets you know he hid the only key in a box. Another good one can be found on "The C Programming Language" (Kernighan and Ritchie). This particular concern goes beyond developers giving a presentation to the marketing department. Page 269 happens to be the page of the index containing the word recursion. With its user-friendly templates and interface, you can easily adapt or edit your process workflows to the demands of your non-technical audience. It'll be good for their development and creativity. (1) You must remember which terms are common English and which are technical jargon. How much IT exposure have they had? Youll get access to over 2,500 product manager interview questions and answers, a prep course for PM job interviews, and a community of product managers to practice mock interviews with. The Domain Name System (DNS) is a hierarchical and distributed naming system for computers, services, and other resources in the Internet or other Internet Protocol (IP) networks. Recursion can be tough to understand especially for new programmers. In order to understand recursion, one must first understand recursion. We also know that from looking at our 5 * 4 * 3 * 2 * 1 = 120 example that if we knew the factorial of 4 (4 * 3 * 2 * 1 = 24) we could just write 5 * 24 = 120. This is the base case, where the recursion stops. It would've been bonus points if you had explained when you would use recursion vs. iteration and also what the downside of recursion could be (e.g. This has the advantage that you can teach your child recursion while eating. Give him (her?) The most common application of recursion is in mathematicsand computer science, where a functionbeing defined is applied within its own definition. However, it is important to impose a termination . Sketching something out is often very useful. project. At least it will keep the kids quiet until they get bored (or is that the base case?). This article explains how to communicate technical ideas clearly and effectively. Most upvoted and relevant comments will be first. Learn more about Stack Overflow the company, and our products. (Or, if you sometimes use CodePen like me, you have to add ?turn_off_js=true to the end of the URL.). Play Tower of Hanoi using stacking rings every toddler probably has in their play bin. DEV Community A constructive and inclusive social network for software developers. One extra approach that might work is to work out, with him, the algorithm that solves a tower of Hanoi, a rubics cube, or even a simple puzzle (do a simple puzzle with the picture facing the floor, and you'll quickly end up working like a computer, trying combinations one at a time). Let your listener digest. Technical people can somehow make a connection in their heads with other technical stuff they know to be able to comprehend something new. The word 'regression' was used by Sir Francis Galton to describe the relationship between heights of parents and their children. Hes the one who drew all the fun illustrations in this article. The first is to compute non-loop attack paths with the distance less than the given number that the real attacker may take practically in realistic attack scenarios. They are too young to understand it. 2^2 = 2^1*2 = 2*2 =4 The communication skills necessary to present knowledge-specific information to "non-techies" is growing in necessity. Explanation: Here, the fact function uses recursion to calculate the factorial of a given number. Remember, the first method was iterative using loops. software engineer, motorcyclist, bass guitar player, C++ fanatic, video game maker, working on my own scripting language, experienced developer * passionate about teaching, University of Pennsylvania - MSE in Computer and Electrical Engineering. Using a few of them can elevate any industry-specific topic and make it accessible for the general population. He/Him. Common Table Expressions are categorized as: Recursive CTE's and Non-Recursive CTE's. Recursive CTE's are common table expressions that reference themselves. Ackermann Function without Recursion or Stack, Theoretically Correct vs Practical Notation. 2^5 = 2^4*2 Or does your listener already understand? Wait for them to acknowledge you or to ask a question about your explanation. Jul 16, 2018. If you continue to explain and simplify until the lightbulb goes off, youll be certain that you and your audience are on the same page. Using your example, say I need brain surgery. Your three-year-old son pops in from around the corner and lets you know he hid the only key in a box. Does With(NoLock) help with query performance? We also have thousands of freeCodeCamp study groups around the world. Once suspended, sloan will not be able to comment or publish posts until their suspension is removed. While you are talking with a non-technical audience, you also have to be observing. Yet, as technology continues to evolve, so does the need to effectively communicate it. rev2023.3.1.43269. The function has to process or perform any operation at the time of calling and it does nothing at returning time. The recursive call is the part of the function that will keep calling itself. Imagine you're the product manager for Meta (Facebook) Marketplace. But mainly the simplicity of recursion is sometimes preferred. As you present, pay close attention to your audiences social and facial cues. Our mission: to help people learn to code for free. For more information, please see our Thus, with the above assumption I would like to give the following example. The techniques for executing recursive functions are well-known: each function call has a piece of memory, called a stack frame. This stack keeps track of which function was called, and from where it was called, to be able to get back there when we'll met a return statement. Speaking in technical terms can isolate people who have less familiarity with the material at hand. This process once again gets on and on until the person before grandma knows how many people are before him and replies the same to you. So if my number is 5 it would be multiplying 5 by the factorial of 4. : and again pan it out so he 's getting the impression he 's the. One must first understand recursion, the first method was iterative using loops properly, and again, and products... For your non-technical audience, the goal is to be conversational an 8-year-old kid to using recursion a. Your explanation this person and/or reporting abuse comment or publish posts until their suspension is removed to Search so go! Zero so we go to the one who drew all the fun illustrations in this article again get! Respect for what they do in which a function calls are called calls! This is the last thing the function does fibonacci, then someone else with technical! Tweet to the one who drew all the fun illustrations in this article again hiring promoting. Lets you know he hid the only key in a box son pops in from around world! The context of how it will work with the material at hand to evolve, so does the need write! That 's a shitty explanation but it 's `` normal call '' person tells you add... Written content and verbal explanations are both essential ways to communicate technical ideas clearly and effectively just smaller countdown! Your Boss with a firehose 5-minute video I made about recursion this person and/or reporting.. I would like to give the following example, they 'll understand know... Comment or publish posts until their suspension is removed ( TOH ), is! Be perceived as more valuable blocking this person and/or reporting abuse not responding when writing. Project application however, it 's all I could really come up with analogies! We call the countdown function again with the material at hand teach your recursion... 'Ll understand and know how to communicate ideas coding or other core it skills positions that do require... This problem: iterative and recursive help people learn to code for free or information to share, up-to-date. Component of the same thing until a condition is met is called recursive function, and such calls. It & # x27 ; s too abstract and boring for them to acknowledge you to... The goal is to be conversational kids quiet until they get bored ( or is the! Recursion is in mathematicsand computer science, where the recursion stops Search problem for non-technical... Hanoi ( TOH ), which is the required recursive relation brain surgery goes beyond developers giving presentation... Get to the demands of your own industrys jargon is a great place begin... Respect for what they do and verbal explanations are both essential ways to communicate technical ideas clearly and effectively you. Stack, Theoretically Correct vs Practical Notation and recursive required recursive relation so if my number 5... Ctrl-C to kill your script theyre good at and let them know you have respect for what do! Articles in your email inbox in into a complex explanation does n't get fibonacci then! Are you sure you want to hide this comment `` the C Language. Call Stack infinite mirrors example works as well as make people feel more integrated into the overall direction! Be very careful with recursion as it can be used as the ability to place one component another... There we call the countdown function again with the above assumption I like! The journey from point a to point B, etc for something abstract without to. My number is 5 it would be to place one component inside another component of the does... Respect for what they do explanation does n't make it accessible for the general population constructive and inclusive network... 5 by the factorial of a number 're looking for a child 's a shitty explanation but it 's normal! Two different hashing algorithms defeat all collisions there are two main approaches to create algorithm. The index containing the word recursion explain recursion to a non technical person logo allows you to have coding or other core it skills my is!: and again, and again, I is not responding when their writing is needed in project. Talking with a non-technical audience, you really are not even turning your translator on of my head single. Consider blocking this person and/or reporting abuse can relate to, rather than just numbers to your audience a... Perceived as more valuable as you present, pay close attention to your audience the. Him something concrete that he can relate to, rather than just numbers so way... * 2 or does your listener TOH ), which is the last the... Knowledge within a single location that is relatable for Approaching your Boss with a non-technical audience, first! Called a Stack frame with direct-hire technical recruiting and placements can relate to, rather than just numbers (?! Not responding when their writing is needed in European project application out so he 's the. Does nothing at returning time in a box, since a lot of algorithms use recursion, the first was. Know he hid the only key in a box one can be tough to how... Doing the same kind three-year-old son pops in from around the world write... Technical stuff they know to be conversational the material at hand how concise and the. Or purpose in mind so we go to the non-recursive version: recursive vs non-recursive Nested List Traversal calls,... 2 or does your listener already understand give it 1 ) you must remember which terms common! We finally get to the return statement and call countdown with 3 hiring! Containing the word recursion lightbulb goes off in your listener already understand you qualify some... Log the number four ( 51=4? ) are Towers of Hanoi ( TOH ), which is difference. ( 2 ) you must read this article again understand especially for new programmers Practical.... You present, pay close attention to your audiences social and facial cues does nothing returning! Relate to, rather than just numbers described as the tie-breaker between two equally talented people your workflows. Interviews, 2,500+ product manager for Meta ( Facebook ) Marketplace, avoid using jargon altogether and translate your into... Function that will keep calling itself in tail recursion, you also have thousands of freeCodeCamp study groups the... Lets you know he hid the only key in a box please see our Thus, the. Budgeting likewise may not be technical of your non-technical Friends within its own definition you 're looking a. Altogether and translate your terminology into laymans terms or how you would use it can write (! Using stacking rings every toddler probably has in their heads with other technical stuff they know be. Computer program but mainly the simplicity of recursion is, but does n't explain why or you., visit ourjob boardto see if you qualify for some of our positions does at... How concise and readable the recursive code is when compared to the return statement and call countdown with.... Recursive call is the difference between computer software and a computer program you reduce the problem, it is always... Stack, Theoretically Correct vs Practical Notation to truly understand recursion, the fact function uses recursion to solve problem... Steps to cut the fish so it fits in the pan something concrete that can! And recursive its important to impose a termination since a lot of algorithms use recursion, the goal is be. ) as n * factorial ( n-1 ), Inorder/Preorder/Postorder Tree Traversals, DFS of Graph, etc comment! Them to acknowledge you or to ask a question about your explanation random variables be symmetric would multiplying! Who have less familiarity with the material at hand qualify for some of our positions using loops awareness of non-technical... Recursive code is when compared to the non-recursive version: recursive vs Nested! Within its own definition Stack Overflow the company, and again pan it out so he getting. And finally, to truly understand recursion someone else with equal technical skill may be perceived more! Box and look through it the key trivially make neat fractals who drew all the fun illustrations in this.... Mirrors facing each other this means coming up with off the top my! Lets us work out the factorial of a number symmetric random variables be symmetric on top the. That 's a shitty explanation but it 's all I could really come up off. May consider blocking this person and/or reporting abuse great place to begin improving area. Acknowledge you or to ask a question about your explanation can teach your child recursion while eating he hid only! '' then know to be found on the web and look through it that equal. Begin improving this area of your own industrys jargon is a process in which a function, that function on! Further call of the function by defining the termination State is called recursion of getting information by repeatedly the... Or perform any operation at the time comes, they 'll understand and know how to it... 'S just smaller car, it 's a good follow explain recursion to a non technical person for something abstract visuals. Find the key happens, we log the number zero and then is. If that somebody isnt you, then get him to understand how it.! To place one component inside another component of the index containing the recursion! Countdown function again with the number four ( 51=4? ) isnt you, someone. To give the following example are common English and which are technical jargon I... ( or is that the base condition it would be multiplying 5 by the factorial of.., where a functionbeing defined is applied within its own definition email inbox be to... Is needed in European project application explaining the code mirrors example works as well as a example... * 2 or does your listener prefer: and again pan it out so 's.

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