Java™ How To Program (Early Objects), Tenth Edition

18.9.2 (Optional) Case Study: Lo Feather Fractal

We now demonstrate the use of recursion to draw fractals by writing a program to create a strictly self-similar fractal. We call this the “Lo feather fractal,” named for Sin Han Lo, a Deitel & Associates colleague who created it. The fractal will eventually resemble one-half of a feather (see the outputs in Fig. 18.19). The base case, or fractal level of 0, begins as a line between two points, A and B (Fig. 18.13). To create the next higher level, we find the midpoint (C) of the line. To calculate the location of point C, use the following formula:

Fig. 18.13 | “Lo feather fractal” at level 0. ...