C tail call optimization for boolean AND

Question

Does GCC perform Tail call optimization on the following function?

bool isEqual(Node *head1, Node *head2)
{
    if(head1 == NULL || head2 == NULL)
        return head1 == NULL && head2 == NULL;
    return head1->data == head2->data && isEqual(head1->next, head2->next);
}

Answer 1

Yes it does, at least the way I compiled it. The assembly code for that function was

isEqual(Node*, Node*):
    test    rdi, rdi
    sete    dl
    test    rsi, rsi
    sete    cl
    mov eax, ecx
    or  al, dl
    jne .L2
    mov edx, DWORD PTR [rsi+8]
    cmp DWORD PTR [rdi+8], edx
    je  .L5
    rep ret
.L2:
    mov eax, ecx
    and eax, edx
    ret
.L5:
    mov rdi, QWORD PTR [rdi]
    mov rsi, QWORD PTR [rsi]
    test    rdi, rdi
    sete    dl
    test    rsi, rsi
    sete    cl
    mov eax, ecx
    or  al, dl
    jne .L2
    mov ecx, DWORD PTR [rsi+8]
    cmp DWORD PTR [rdi+8], ecx
    je  .L5
    rep ret

That's clearly a loop, and no nested calls appear.

You should verify whether it does something similar with your version of GCC on your platform and with your compilation options.