recursive templates to make your life easier

backtrackingTemplate.js

const backtrackingProblem = (input) => {

  const finalResult = []

  const recurse = (curSolution, arg) => {

    // base case - does our solution work?
    if(isBadSolution(curSolution)) return

    // add our final solution
    finalResult.push([...curSolution]) // store a copy because we are gonna mutate further

    for(let i=0; i<arg.length; i++){
      // update our current solution with a possibility
      curSolution.push(arg[i])
      
      recurse(curSolution, arg.slice(i + 1))

      // clean up our mutation
      curSolution.pop()
    }

  }

  // call the recursive helper with our initial solution and the initial input
  recurse([], input)
  
  return finalResult
}

recursiveTemplate.js

  const recurse = (arg) => {
    // create a base case where we do NOT recurse
    if(!arg){
      return // OR return the answer for that particular argument
    }else{
    // create a recursive case
    // call the recursive function with a new argument that gets us closer to the base case
      recurse(arg - 1)
    }
  }