Tail-Call Optimization

The compiler can do one particular optimization whenever the last thing a particular function does is to call another function. Rather than generating a new frame, the callee reuses the frame from the caller, and the return address for the callee is copied from the caller. The motivation for this optimization is to reduce the size of the stack, and, on SPARC platforms, to reduce the use of register windows.

Suppose that the call sequence in your program source looks like this:

A -> B -> C -> D

When B and C are tail-call optimized, the call stack looks as if function A calls functions B, C, and D directly.

A -> B
A -> C
A -> D

That is, the call tree is flattened. When code is compiled with the -g option, tail-call optimization takes place only at a compiler optimization level of 4 or higher. When code is compiled without the- g option, tail-call optimization takes place at a compiler optimization level of 2 or higher.