How to find the largest element in a list of integers recursively?

Question

I\'m trying to write a function which will recursively find the largest element in a list of integers. I know how to do this in Java, but can\'t understand how to do this at Sca

Answer 1

If you are required to write a recursive max function on a list using isEmpty, head and tail and throw exception for empty list:

def max(xs: List[Int]): Int =
  if (xs.isEmpty) throw new NoSuchElementException("max of empty list")
  else if (xs.tail.isEmpty) xs.head
  else if (xs.head > xs.tail.head) max(xs.head :: xs.tail.tail)
  else max(xs.tail)

if you were to use max function on list it is simply (you don't need to write your own recursive function):

val maxInt = List(1, 2, 3, 4).max