tdammers answers (112 votes): Recursion is not intrinsically better or worse than loops—each has advantages and disadvantages, and those even depend on the programming language (and implementation).

KS3 Iteration in programming Condition-controlled loops - using WHILE When designing programs, there may be some instructions that need repeating.

Tim Chapman discusses your iteration choices in SQL Server 2008 and explains why determining which option performs better depends on the situation.