Understanding Python bytecode by implementing tail call optimization

by mynameisfiber • 11 years ago

12 3 11 years ago

hughdbrown2• 11 years ago

This code does not do what the author thinks it does:

    def factorial(N, result=1):
        if N == 1:
            return 1
        return factorial(N-1, N*result)

mynameisfiber• 11 years ago

No, but the time complexity is the same.

hughdbrown2• 11 years ago

Okay but if you are going to call the function factorial, why not have it actually calculate a factorial? This would have done the job:

    def factorial(N, result=1):
        if N == 1:
            return result
        return factorial(N-1, N*result)

Assuming that you never call it with the result argument.

As written, it just looks like the author never ran the code.

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