HOW TO CONVERT A RECURSIVE ALGORITHM TO A NON-RECURSIVE ONE

( i)    At the beginning of the function, code is inserted which declares a stack (called recursion stack) and initializes it to be empty. In the most general case, the stack will be used to hold the values of parameters, local variables, and a return address for each recursive call. We might prefer to use a separate stack for each value.
(ii)    The label 1 is attached to the first executable statement.
(iii)    If this is a value returning function, then replace all appearances of the function name on the left hand side of assignment statements by a new variable, say z, of the same type as the function.
     
Now, each recursive call is replaced by a set of instructions which do the following:

(iv)    Store the values of all pass by value parameters and local variables in the stack. The pointer to the top of the stack can be treated as global.
(v)    Create the i-th new label, i, and 'store i in the stack. The value i of this label will be used as the return address. This label is placed in the program as described in rule (vii).
(vi)    Evaluate the arguments of this call that correspond to pass by value parameters (they may be expressions) and assign these values to the appropriate formal parameters.
(vii)    Insert an unconditional branch to the beginning of the function.
(viii)    If this is a void function, add the label created in (v) to the statement immediately following the unconditional branch. In case this statement already has a label, change it and all references to it to the label created in (v). If this is a value returning function then follow the unconditional branch by code to use the value of the variable z in the same way the function value was used earlier. The first statement of this code is given the label that was created in (v).

These steps are sufficient to remove all recursive calls from the procedure or function. Finally, we need to precede the last end statement of the function by code to do the following:

(ix)    If the recursion stack is empty, then assign the value of z to the function name and execute a normal end of function in case this is a value returning function. In the case' of a void function, we simply execute a normal end of function.
(x)    If the stack is not empty, then restore the value of all pass by value parameters and of all local variables. These are at the top of' the stack. Use the return label from the top of the stack and execute a branch to this label. This can be done using a case statement.
(xi)    In addition, the label (if any) attached to the end of procedure or function statement is moved to the first statement of the code for (ix) and, (x).