Flashcards for Python lesson 6: Functions and recursion
Read the front, say the back to yourself, then open the card.
Recursion
A function that solves a problem by calling itself on smaller parts of it.
assert condition
Stops the program with an error if the condition is False.
log₂(n!)
The fewest yes-or-no comparisons that can tell n! orders apart: the limit for any comparison sort.
n² against n·log n
For 1,000 items: about 500,000 against about 10,000 steps.
Passing a function
for name, sort in [("merge", merge), …]: functions are values, like numbers.