I don't get your point. Just because the image gets repeated in the 4th panel doesn't mean its recursion. It can be an infinite while loop with a state.

Now that I think about it, a recursion without a base/break condition is just an infinite loop with a state

[–] entwine@programming.dev 6 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Ackshually, the meme is encoded using progressively smaller images nested into the fourth panel of the comic. Each fourth panel is effectively a nested function call to the original comic procedure, which more closely represents recursion than an infinite loop.

For an infinite loop, one might instead lay out the 3 unique panels horizontally, and just memcpy them into rows below, creating a table. That's a regression in humor, but it'd fix the bug.

So I agree with @ryannathans@aussie.zone's review; The joke is about infinite loops, but the visual gag is about recursion.

[–] orbitz@lemmy.ca 2 points 2 weeks ago

Lol that's exactly how I saw it as well. Recursive gets those nesting dolls look in my head, loops are the same size but repeated, even if infinite. Yes even if the code is almost the same since you can write a loop recursively anyways (okay haven't tested but seems like it'd work mostly fine but not always as clean).

I think the beauty of it is that the joke can be amusing in multiple ways. Those are the best jokes to me, cause I can think of different ways the next time I see them.

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