PPractick

The problem

A greeting-card printer must print the recipient's name N times down the card, and the exercise is to do it recursively. There are two natural ways to write it. The first counts down from N to 0, as in the previous problem. The second uses a parameterised recursion that counts up from 1 to N, carrying the current position as an extra argument. Being comfortable with both, and knowing which parameter carries the progress, is the stepping stone to the "Print 1 to N" and "Print N to 1" problems and later to recursive tree traversals.

Example: printName("Asha", 3) prints Asha three times.

Function signature

void printNameCountdown(const string& name, int n);    // recursion on n: n, n-1, ..., 1
void printNameCountUp(const string& name, int i, int n); // recursion on i: 1, 2, ..., n

Test cases

Input	Output	Explanation
printNameCountdown("Asha", 3)	Asha ×3	Stops when n reaches 0
printNameCountUp("Asha", 1, 3)	Asha ×3	Stops when i exceeds n
printNameCountdown("Ravi", 1)	Ravi ×1
printNameCountdown("Ravi", 0)	(nothing)	Base case immediately

(Confirm: n ≥ 0; each name on its own line; no loops.)

How interviewers phrase it

• "Print GFG N times using recursion" (GeeksforGeeks).
• "Print your name N times without a loop."
• Follow-up: "Can you write it counting up instead of down?"

Clarifying questions to ask

1. Can N be 0?
2. How large can N be? (Stack depth.)
3. Should it print directly or return a list?

Follow-ups to expect

1. "What's the difference between your two versions?"
2. "Which parameter guarantees termination?"
3. "What's parameterised vs functional recursion?"
4. "Complexity?"

Related questions

• Understand recursion by print something N times Easy
• Print 1 to N using Recursion Easy
• Print N to 1 using Recursion Easy
• Sum of First N Numbers Easy
• Factorial of a given number Easy
• Reverse an array Easy

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