Connor & Mark
Mark
So, I’ve been wrestling with a recursive function that’s supposed to keep track of branching story paths without looping back, but it keeps getting stuck. Any thoughts on how to clean that up?
Connor
Sounds like you’re missing a clear base case or a visited‑path guard. Add a set that records every node you’ve entered, and before you recurse, check if it’s already in the set – if so, skip it. Then make sure your recursive call returns a boolean (or a path list) and stop once you hit the goal. That way the stack can unwind cleanly and you won’t loop forever. Give it a try and let me know how it goes.
Mark
Sounds solid—just remember to keep the guard small and reset it each new branch. Give it a run.
Connor
Good call, resetting the guard each branch keeps the memory low and avoids false positives. Just make sure the set lives in the right scope—local to the recursive call or passed along—so each path gets its fresh start. Happy coding!
Mark
Yeah,’ll stick with a local set per call and pass it only when needed. If the depth blows up I’ll switch to an explicit stack anyway. Keep the logs handy; they’re the only thing that keeps me sane.