In GLSL, the for loop cannot allow true recursion due to the GPU’s parallel architecture; it is treated as a spatial unrolling o

 In GLSL, the for loop cannot allow true recursion due to the GPU’s parallel architecture; it is treated as a spatial unrolling of a finite sequence. In contrast, dataflow languages such as TouchDesigner realize recursion through temporal delay, inserting a one-frame feedback to preserve a Directed Acyclic Graph (DAG) structure. Both are strategies to maintain acyclicity: spatial unrolling “counts” by duplicating symbols, while temporal delay “remembers” by referencing past states. Philosophically, spatial expansion represents finiteness, temporal delay represents infinitude, and language design lies in how these two mirror-like modes of recursion can be reconciled.