[stringtemplate-interest] Understanding template recursion

[Trevor Strohman]

I'm having trouble understanding recursion in templates.

Suppose I have a list called "items" that contains Strings: "a", "b",  
"c", "d", and these two templates:
recurse(x) ::= "<x><rest(x):recurse()>"
recurse2(x) ::= "<x><recurse2(rest(x))>"

I expect <recurse(items)> to become:
	abcdcdd
and <recurse2(items)> to become:
	abcd

However, <recurse(items)> becomes "abcd" and <recurse2(items)> throws  
an Exception.  What am I misunderstanding?

Also, I notice that functions first, last and rest don't seem to be  
first-class citizens in the language.  These expressions throw  
exceptions:
	<if(first(rest(items))>
	<first(items).isEnabled>
This has been a problem for me this afternoon.  I feel like I must be  
misunderstanding the right way to approach recursive template  
invocation.

Trevor