Evolution of a Python programmer


#Newbie programmer
def factorial(x):
    if x == 0:
        return 1
    else:
        return x * factorial(x - 1)
print factorial(6)


#First year programmer, studied Pascal
def factorial(x):
    result = 1
    i = 2
    while i <= x:
        result = result * i
        i = i + 1
    return result
print factorial(6)


#First year programmer, studied C
def fact(x): #{
    result = i = 1;
    while (i <= x): #{
        result *= i;
        i += 1;
    #}
    return result;
#}
print(fact(6))


#First year programmer, SICP
@tailcall
def fact(x, acc=1):
    if (x > 1): return (fact((x - 1), (acc * x)))
    else:       return acc
print(fact(6))


#First year programmer, Python
def Factorial(x):
    res = 1
    for i in xrange(2, x + 1):
        res *= i
    return res
print Factorial(6)


#Lazy Python programmer
def fact(x):
    return x > 1 and x * fact(x - 1) or 1
print fact(6)


#Lazier Python programmer
f = lambda x: x and x * f(x - 1) or 1
print f(6)


#Python expert programmer
import operator as op
import functional as f
fact = lambda x: f.foldl(op.mul, 1, xrange(2, x + 1))
print fact(6)


#Python hacker
import sys
@tailcall
def fact(x, acc=1):
    if x: return fact(x.__sub__(1), acc.__mul__(x))
    return acc
sys.stdout.write(str(fact(6)) + '\n')


#EXPERT PROGRAMMER
import c_math
fact = c_math.fact
print fact(6)


#ENGLISH EXPERT PROGRAMMER
import c_maths
fact = c_maths.fact
print fact(6)


#Web designer
def factorial(x):
    #-------------------------------------------------
    #--- Code snippet from The Math Vault          ---
    #--- Calculate factorial (C) Arthur Smith 1999 ---
    #-------------------------------------------------
    result = str(1)
    i = 1 #Thanks Adam
    while i <= x:
        #result = result * i  #It's faster to use *=
        #result = str(result * result + i)
           #result = int(result *= i) #??????
        result str(int(result) * i)
        #result = int(str(result) * i)
        i = i + 1
    return result
print factorial(6)


#Unix programmer
import os
def fact(x):
    os.system('factorial ' + str(x))
fact(6)


#Windows programmer
NULL = None
def CalculateAndPrintFactorialEx(dwNumber,
                                 hOutputDevice,
                                 lpLparam,
                                 lpWparam,
                                 lpsscSecurity,
                                 *dwReserved):
    if lpsscSecurity != NULL:
        return NULL #Not implemented
    dwResult = dwCounter = 1
    while dwCounter <= dwNumber:
        dwResult *= dwCounter
        dwCounter += 1
    hOutputDevice.write(str(dwResult))
    hOutputDevice.write('\n')
    return 1
import sys
CalculateAndPrintFactorialEx(6, sys.stdout, NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL)


#Enterprise programmer
def new(cls, *args, **kwargs):
    return cls(*args, **kwargs)

class Number(object):
    pass

class IntegralNumber(int, Number):
    def toInt(self):
        return new (int, self)

class InternalBase(object):
    def __init__(self, base):
        self.base = base.toInt()

    def getBase(self):
        return new (IntegralNumber, self.base)

class MathematicsSystem(object):
    def __init__(self, ibase):
        Abstract

    @classmethod
    def getInstance(cls, ibase):
        try:
            cls.__instance
        except AttributeError:
            cls.__instance = new (cls, ibase)
        return cls.__instance

class StandardMathematicsSystem(MathematicsSystem):
    def __init__(self, ibase):
        if ibase.getBase() != new (IntegralNumber, 2):
            raise NotImplementedError
        self.base = ibase.getBase()

    def calculateFactorial(self, target):
        result = new (IntegralNumber, 1)
        i = new (IntegralNumber, 2)
        while i <= target:
            result = result * i
            i = i + new (IntegralNumber, 1)
        return result

print StandardMathematicsSystem.getInstance(new (InternalBase, new (IntegralNumber, 2))).calculateFactorial(new (IntegralNumber, 6))

>>174
What are you retarded? Longs in python ARE arbitrary length- which was exactly what the quoted posts said it would NOT work for. Lets move past this however and discuss practicality. Who in their right mind that is writing a factorial function would make it accept a long parameter, just incase somebody wants to calculate the factorial of 2^31? Hell, I'll tell you what else. If someone, for a practical reason needed to calculate the factorial of a number greater than or equal to 2^31, they would most certainly NOT be using python. Get off your theoretical python programming high horse and actually think about how something would be implemented before you ask for an actual implementation.