Function self call- ok?

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January 16th, 2013, 10:45 AM

anfractuosities

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Function self call- ok?

I am new to python. I am using python to check my gmail account for newly arrived messages. I want it to constantly check it every 10 seconds, for example. Is this function ok practice? Is there another way to do the perpetual check? Would it be better to use a while loop with an input exit strategy?

Code:

def checkMail(old,new):
    now = int(g.get_mail_count())
    curr = now - old
    if curr > new:
        new = curr
        print "NEW"
    time.sleep(10)
    checkMail(old,new)

January 16th, 2013, 11:30 AM

b49P23TIvg

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Recursive functions are ok----BUT THEY NEED A WAY TO TERMINATE. You need to terminate the recursion. So no, your function will fill the stack after a while and crash.

Rewrite with a
while True:
loop.

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