Possible Duplicate:
Maximum recursion depth?
I have another problem with my code.
I'm wrtiting my first program in Vpython and I have to make a simulation of mixing two gases. First i had a problem with borders, but now when the balls(that represents the gas particles) stay within the borders there is sth different wrong. After a few seconds i get an error, which is shown below the source code of my function.
Code:
def MovingTheBall(listOfBalls,position,numCell,flagOfExecution):
flag = 0
if flagOfExecution==0:
positionTmp = position
else:
positionTmp = (position[0]+choice([-1,0,1]),position[1]+choice([-1,0,1]),0)
for i in range( 0, len(listOfBalls) ):
if positionTmp==listOfBalls[i].pos:
flag=1
if flag==1:
return MovingTheBall(lista,(position[0]+choice([-1,0,1]),position[1]+choice([-1,0,1]),0),numCell,1)
else:
if positionTmp[0]==0 or positionTmp[0]>=numCell or positionTmp[0]<=-numCell or positionTmp[1]>=numCell or positionTmp[1]<=-numCell:
return MovingTheBall(lista,(position[0]+choice([-1,0,1]),position[1]+choice([-1,0,1]),0),numCell,1)
return positionTmp
the error is:
return MovingTheBall(listOfBalls,(position[0]+choice([-1,0,1]),position[1]+choice([-1,0,1]),0),numCell,1)
File "gaz.txt", line 138, in MovingTheBall
return MovingTheBall(listOfBalls,(position[0]+choice([-1,0,1]),position[1]+choice([-1,0,1]),0),numCell,1)
File "gaz.txt", line 138, in MovingTheBall
return MovingTheBall(listOfBalls,(position[0]+choice([-1,0,1]),position[1]+choice([-1,0,1]),0),numCell,1)
File "gaz.txt", line 138, in MovingTheBall
return MovingTheBall(listOfBalls,(position[0]+choice([-1,0,1]),position[1]+choice([-1,0,1]),0),numCell,1)
File "gaz.txt", line 138, in MovingTheBall
return MovingTheBall(listOfBalls,(position[0]+choice([-1,0,1]),position[1]+choice([-1,0,1]),0),numCell,1)
File "gaz.txt", line 138, in MovingTheBall
return MovingTheBall(listOfBalls,(position[0]+choice([-1,0,1]),position[1]+choice([-1,0,1]),0),numCell,1)
File "gaz.txt", line 130, in MovingTheBall
if positionTmp==listOfBalls[i].pos:
RuntimeError: maximum recursion depth exceeded while calling a Python object
Can anybody think of a way to simplify my function?
I run the function it while loop:
while 1:
rate(20)
for i in range(0,len(self.listOfBalls)):
self.listOfBalls[i].pos=poruszanie(self.listOfBalls,self.listOfBalls[i].pos,self.numCell,0)
Python lacks the tail recursion optimizations common in functional languages like lisp. In Python, recursion is limited to 999 calls (see sys.getrecursionlimit).
If 999 depth is more than you are expecting, check if the implementation lacks a condition that stops recursion, or if this test may be wrong for some cases.
I dare to say that in Python, pure recursive algorithm implementations are not correct/safe. A fib() implementation limited to 999 is not really correct. It is always possible to convert recursive into iterative, and doing so is trivial.
It is not reached often because in many recursive algorithms the depth tend to be logarithmic. If it is not the case with your algorithm are likely to get recursive calls more than 999 deep, you have two options:
1) You can change the recursion limit with sys.setrecursionlimit(n)
until the maximum allowed for your platform:
sys.setrecursionlimit(limit)
:
Set the maximum depth of the Python interpreter stack to limit. This limit prevents infinite recursion from causing an overflow of the C stack and crashing Python.
The highest possible limit is platform-dependent. A user may need to set the limit higher when she has a program that requires deep recursion and a platform that supports a higher limit. This should be done with care, because a too-high limit can lead to a crash.
2) You can convert to convert the algorithm from recursive to iterative. If recursion depth is bigger than allowed by your platform, it is the only way to fix the problem. If you are having trouble with that, post a new question so we can help.
I've changed the recursion to iteration.
def MovingTheBall(listOfBalls,position,numCell):
while 1:
stop=1
positionTmp = (position[0]+choice([-1,0,1]),position[1]+choice([-1,0,1]),0)
for i in range(0,len(listOfBalls)):
if positionTmp==listOfBalls[i].pos:
stop=0
if stop==1:
if (positionTmp[0]==0 or positionTmp[0]>=numCell or positionTmp[0]<=-numCell or positionTmp[1]>=numCell or positionTmp[1]<=-numCell):
stop=0
else:
return positionTmp
Works good :D
The error is a stack overflow. That should ring a bell on this site, right? It occurs because a call to poruszanie
results in another call to poruszanie
, incrementing the recursion depth by 1. The second call results in another call to the same function. That happens over and over again, each time incrementing the recursion depth.
Now, the usable resources of a program are limited. Each function call takes a certain amount of space on top of what is called the stack. If the maximum stack height is reached, you get a stack overflow error.
That's the error you get when a function makes too many recursive calls to itself. It might be doing this because the base case is never met (and therefore it gets stuck in an infinite loop) or just by making an large number of calls to itself. You could replace the recursive calls with while loops.