English Idiom in Unix: Directory Recursively

[Ian Kelly]

On Tue, May 17, 2011 at 4:26 PM, Xah Lee <xahlee at gmail.com> wrote:
> Though, if you think about it, it's not exactly a correct description.
> “Recursive”, or “recursion”, refers to a particular type of algorithm,
> or a implementation using that algorithm.

Only when used as programming jargon.  In mathematics, "recursive
function" does *not* mean "a function implemented using a recursive
algorithm".  It's just a formal definition of a specific class of
mathematical functions.

As it turns out, "recursive" also has a non-technical definition,
which again has nothing to do with algorithms except in the broadest
sense:

recursive    adj.
1. pertaining to or using a rule or procedure that can be applied repeatedly
(from dictionary.com)

This definition fits the Unix usage perfectly.