I don't actually care. I was discussing which is faster "in theory", whatever that means.

When I optimize my code for speed I like to pick the best solution, even if it is only a fraction of a percent faster - the main purpose of such optimizations is to give a sense of satisfaction to the programmer (if the programmer does feel good about them).

Also, I surprisingly find non-recursive code easier to read (because it spans less space on the screen - I tend to pass lots of arguments to my functions).

P.S. if you overflow your stack with recursive calls, then there is either something seriously wrong with your code, or with your algorithm (or both).