[toolz]

tail-recursion is just an implementation detail...but with recursion, I find non-programmers struggle no more with them than simple loops. It's only programmers who develop a strong familiarity with loops that feel some sense of unnecessary friction. Neither are more than code that says "do this thing until this condition is met"

[h0l0cube]

I agree. As I said it’s those programmers coming in from non-functional languages (likely the majority). When you’re conditioned to using for loops with mutation, it can feel strange to use these new patterns. I think comprehensions, map, and reduce are becoming more common in other non-functional languages, so maybe newer programmers would instinctively reach for these first.