Inorder Tree Traversal Explained: Recursive vs. Iterative Approaches

Inorder traversal is a fundamental algorithm used to visit binary search tree nodes in sorted order by following a left-node-right sequence. In a BST, this approach works because every left subtree contains smaller values and every right subtree contains larger ones, ensuring nodes are processed in ascending order. The recursive version relies on the CPU's call stack to track position, but risks stack overflow on deeply skewed trees with large inputs. The iterative version replicates the same traversal logic using an explicit stack, manually controlling which node to visit next. Both methods produce identical output, with the iterative approach offering greater safety for production use on unbalanced trees.