Understanding how recursive functions work

Question

As the title explains I have a very fundamental programming question which I have just not been able to grok yet. Filtering out all of the (extremely clever) \"In order to

Answer 1

Recursion started making sense to me when I stopped reading what others say about it or seeing it as something I can avoid and just wrote code. I found a problem with a solution and tried to duplicate the solution without looking. I only looked at the solution when I got helplessly stuck. Then I went back at trying to duplicate it. I did this again on multiple problems until I developed my own understanding and sense of how to identify a recursive problem and solve it. When I got to this level, I started making up problems and solving them. That helped me more. Sometimes, things can only be learned by trying it out on your own and struggling; until you “get it”.