Tail-call optimization in C is relatively recent

Tail-call optimization in C is a relatively recent development, as C's calling convention historically made it difficult for compilers to perform such optimizations. While Mark Probst implemented tail-call optimization in GCC in 2001 with significant limitations, modern compilers like GCC and Clang now support tail-call optimization effectively, enabling techniques that were previously impractical for systems like Gforth that rely on goto-based approaches.