Convert function from recursion to iteration

Question

I have this function that I wrote that is abysmally slow since php does not handle recursion well. I am trying to convert it to a while loop, but am having trouble wrapping

Answer 1

This looks like your trying to find the optimal route for traversal of a series of nodes in a graph.

I'm guessing that you've not studied Computer Science as the "Travelling Salesman" problem is an archetype of Artificial Intelligence. Of course, as such, it has its own Wikipedia page:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Travelling_salesman_problem

Sorry - but just swapping from a recursive to an iterative function isn't going to make it go any faster ("php does not handle recursion well." - can you provide reference for this assertion). If you need a faster solution then you'll need to look at non-exhaustive/fuzzy methods.

C.