A DEV Community article compares recursion and iteration for calculating factorials, concluding that neither method is universally superior. Recursion offers cleaner, more readable code, particularly for tree structures, but carries a heavy memory cost. Iteration, while slightly more verbose, uses constant memory space, making it more efficient for large calculations.

The core trade-off lies in space complexity. An iterative factorial function uses just one stack frame ($O(1)$), updating a single variable. Recursion, however, creates a new stack frame for each function call, leading to $O(N)$ space usage. For large numbers like 10,000, recursion risks a stack overflow, while iteration continues without memory strain.

The article provides C code examples for both approaches, demonstrating the syntactic differences. For developers, the choice depends on context: recursion can simplify complex algorithms, but iteration is often safer for performance-critical loops. Understanding this balance is essential for writing efficient, scalable code.